Payment service PayPal has cleared up confusion over reported plans to subject users to a ,500 fine for misinformation.

Karah Rucker Reporter/Anchor

Confusion, anger fuel fallout to reported PayPal misinformation fine

Oct 10, 2022

Karah Rucker Reporter/Anchor

By Karah Rucker (Reporter/Anchor)

Payment service PayPal has cleared up confusion over reported plans to subject users to a $2,500 fine for misinformation. The plans were included in an acceptable use policy, or AUP, the company said was published in error.

“PayPal is not fining people for misinformation and the language was never intended to be inserted into our policy,” PayPal said. “Our teams are working to correct our policy pages. We’re sorry for the confusion this has caused.”

The idea of instituting a misinformation fine drew the ire of the so-called PayPal mafia, made up of former PayPal president David Marcus, founding chief operations officer David Sacks and cofounder Elon Musk. All three responded to the news on Twitter over the weekend.

“It’s hard for me to openly criticize a company I used to love and gave so much to. But @PayPal’s new AUP goes against everything I believe in,” Marcus tweeted Saturday. “A private company now gets to decide to take your money if you say something they disagree with. Insanity.”

Musk replied to Marcus’ tweet saying “agreed.” Sacks quote tweeted Marcus’ tweet telling people “get your money out of PayPal right now.”

The crypto community also used the errored AUP to make a point, describing misinformation fines as more evidence of the need for decentralized, digital payment alternatives. Bitcoin and crypto proponents have long argued allowing companies to run payments system risks giving them too much power over people and how they spend their money.

“PayPal censoring speech and blocking payments is the best thing that has happened for the adoption of crypto payments with stablecoins,” prominent crypto investor Santiago Roel Santos tweeted. “At this rate, web3 adoption will happen more because of the reckless actions of web2 companies.”

MarketWatch, Forbes and Axios contributed to this report.

Tags: Elon Musk, PayPal

IF YOU POST SOMETHING ON SOCIAL MEDIA THAT’S FLAGGED AS ‘MISINFORMATION’ THEN YOUR POST IS TAKEN DOWN AND SOMETIMES YOU LOSE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT.
BUT WHAT IF YOUR BANK ACCOUNT WERE TO BECOME INVOLVED?
WHERE A COMPANY COULD FINE YOU THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IF THEY THINK YOU’VE SPREAD MISINFORMATION?
THAT **ALMOST HAPPENED.
PAYPAL HAS OFFERED AN APOLOGY…
AFTER A NEWLY PUBLISHED POLICY SAID USERS WOULD BE FINED 25 HUNDRED DOLLARS OVER MISINFORMATION.
THEY QUICKLY BACKTRACKED.
TAKING THE FINE PRINT **OUT OF THEIR POLICY AGREEMENT.
SO YOU CAN’T BE FINED OVER MISINFORMATION.
THAT WAS AN APPARENT PRINTING MISTAKE.
BUT STILL IN THE POLICY AGREEMENT…ARE FINES FOR PROMOTING WHAT PAYPAL WOULD CONSIDER HATE SPEECH OR DISCRIMINATION.
EARLIER THIS YEAR…GOFUNDME DIVERTED MILLIONS OF DOLLARS FROM A TRUCKERS RALLY FUND FOR WHAT IT CALLED ‘PROMOTING VIOLENCE.’
AND WITH MIDTERMS LESS THAN A MONTH FROM NOW…CONSERVATIVES SPECIFICALLY…ARE CALLING OUT BIG TECH FOR WHAT THEY CALL ANOTHER OVERSTEP.