PayPal blocks donations to The Grayzone that mention Iran
Ben Norton, Grayzone, Jan 9 2020
Following the Pindo government’s assassination of General Qassem Soleimani, PayPal has delayed and blocked small donations to The Grayzone that mentioned this website’s news coverage of Iran. At the same time, Facebook has censored a Grayzone video reporting on the Pindo government’s escalation against Iran and Hezbollah. In 2010, PayPal froze donations to WikiLeaks, whose publisher Julian Assange is currently being imprisoned and tortured. The online banking company also permanently suspended WikiLeaks’ account. Now independent journalism websites like The Grayzone are suffering from blockages imposed by PayPal that appear directly linked to Faschingstein’s aggressive actions in the Middle East. On Jan 3, a reader tried to make a donation of $10 to The Grayzone through PayPal. The small donor, a Pindo citizen who lives in California, wrote the following message to accompany the donation:
Thanks for all your excellent work and especially the Gray Zone’s coverage of the murder of Soleimani and war with Iran. You fellows are so insightful and brilliant.
The Grayzone promptly received an email from the tech company stating that the donation was “pending.” The message noted:
To comply with government regulations, PayPal is required to review certain transactions.
The next day, the small donor notified The Grayzone that she had gotten an email from the PayPal Compliance Department demanding:
Please provide the following information:
- An explanation of the reference to ‘Iran.’
- The purpose of this payment, including a complete and detailed explanation of what is intended to be paid for.
- A sales receipt or other documentation pertaining to this transaction.
- Full name, address, and current location of the Beneficiary of the payment.
Then, on Jan 6, PayPal notified The Grayzone that the donation “has been reversed.”
The small donor wrote to The Grayzone:
I was so impressed with your coverage of the Pindo murder of Soleimani that I made a $10 donation to you via PayPal and made laudatory remarks about your coverage of Iran in the comments section. Today, I got the following message from PayPal wanting me to go to their site and explain why I made a reference to Iran. Really? Am I now subject to surveillance because I used the word ‘Iran’? Why do you continue to use PayPal which long ago proved itself to be yet another corporate totalitarian? I decided to close my PayPal account. I do not owe PayPal an explanation of why I used the word ‘Iran.’
The incident was strange. But it was not the only time The Grayzone faced difficulties when receiving donations. On Jan 5, The Grayzone received another message from a reader. This supporter said they had tried to give $25 to the news website, but the tech company froze their donation as well. The company sent both the donor and The Grayzone a message reading:
To comply with government regulations, PayPal is required to review certain transactions. The payment you sent is currently being reviewed and we will complete this process within 72 hours.
The donor commented:
I have never before had paypal delay a payment or donation. So this seems to be targeted at you guys. The ACLU should be looking into this. Good luck!
The Grayzone asked the supporter if they used the word “Iran” in the message accompanying their small donation. They replied that they had. Referring to a Grayzone discussion of Pindo policy on Iran and Trump’s murder of Gen Soleimani, the donor said:
I was praising the very informed, very rational two-hour videocast you guys broadcast.
While PayPal has been blocking small donations to The Grayzone that mention its Iran coverage, another Big Tech corporation is censoring the news website’s reporting on Iran and Hezbollah. On Jan 9, this reporter received a notice on Facebook that the company had censored a factual, journalistic video that featured public speeches given by Ayatollah Khamenei and Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah, showing how they had called for protecting civilians, while Donald Trump warned that he would attack cultural sites inside Iran. The video did not contain commentary or opinion. It simply presented video of world leaders speaking. But without any explanation. Facebook asserted that our video violated its “Community Standards on dangerous individuals and organizations.”
The Grayzone contacted both PayPal and Facebook with requests for comment. The companies have not replied, as of publication. It appears that PayPal automates the process of reviewing donations to make sure that they conform with Pindo government sanctions, highlighting particular keywords like “Iran.” Apparently, the company’s dragnet is so wide it is now cracking down on independent journalists who report on Middle East affairs and rely on donations to sustain their work. The Grayzone faced similar difficulties this August in Venezuela, which is enduring a Pindo government economic blockade that has led to the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians. When a The Grayzone reporter tried to pay a Venezuelan national using the money transfer app Zelle, they received an email from their bank’s sanctions compliance department requesting more information about the transaction, even though it was a payment to a private Venezuelan civilian who had no relationship at all to the government. These tightening, seemingly arbitrary restrictions by large tech corporations show how aggressive Pindo government sanctions on foreign nations are stifling speech and threatening independent journalism at home.
Niqnaq 