On Thursday, PayPal announced their decision to cease all business connections with Infowars effective immediately, reports The Hill.
An Analysis of PayPal’s Decision
PayPal cited Infowars’ alleged promotion of “hate and discriminatory intolerance against certain communities and religions” as their reason for cutting business ties with the website.
Founded by right-wing commentator Alex Jones, Infowars centers around the opinionated coverage of world events. Infowars is also notorious for attracting criticism; many detractors have referred to the platform as one which promotes “conspiracy theories.”
New York Times journalist Nathaniel Popper provided additional information about PayPal’s decision via Twitter:
While other tech companies have said Infowars violated their policies, PayPal has said the decision was a result of the companies values, and particularly its "core value of inclusion"
— Nathaniel Popper (@nathanielpopper) September 21, 2018
In other online domains, Infowars has been able to find new, if smaller companies willing to work with the site and host its content. It is likely to be a lot harder to find another payment processor. Will Stripe or Worldpay step into the fray?
— Nathaniel Popper (@nathanielpopper) September 21, 2018
Therefore, Infowars now has ten days to set themselves up with a different payment processor. Moreover, PayPal is not the only tech company to give Infowars the boot. Facebook, Twitter, Apple, and YouTube suspended Alex Jones and subsequently removed all of Infowars’ content.
More on Infowars and Censorship
Over the past year, many conservatives have expressed concerns about the disproportionate online censorship of right-wing users. The latest mass cyber ban of Jones and Infowars merely serves as fuel to the fire.
