PayPal, ADL team up to ferret out 'extremist' groups
Initiative will be led through Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism
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PayPal Holdings Inc. and the Anti-Defamation League on Monday announced a partnership aimed at fighting extremism and hate in the financial system and across at-risk communities.
The initiative, which will be led through ADL’s Center on Extremism, will cut off the financial networks for those that support extremist and hate movements. The partnership will also focus on those who spread and profit from all forms of hate and bigotry.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PYPL | PAYPAL HOLDINGS INC. | 84.82 | +0.08 | +0.09% |
"All of us, including in the private sector, have a critical role to play in fighting the spread of extremism and hate," said Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League.
"With this new initiative, we're setting a new standard for companies to bring their expertise to critical social issues," he added. "We have a unique opportunity to further understand how hate spreads and develop key insights that will inform the efforts of the financial industry, law enforcement, and our communities in mitigating extremist threats."
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The initiative is still in its early stages of being developed, but PayPal does not allow its services to be used to promote hate, violence or racial intolerance.
An ADL spokesperson told FOX Business that its Center on Extremism is "at the forefront of mapping trends in extremism across the ideological spectrum," and that its staff "has some of the nation’s leading experts on hate groups and movements."
In this case, the ADL will notify PayPal of accounts that it believes violate the platform's policies around hate and asks them to look into and address the issue based on the platform's rules.
PayPal and fellow payments company Stripe earlier this year banned former President Donald Trump’s campaign from processing transactions, suggesting that he encouraged his supporters to storm the Capitol Building on January 6.
A FOX Business inquiry about whether Black Lives Matter would be among the organizations impacted by the restrictions went unanswered. Black Lives Matter held protests across America, a number of which turned violent, following the death of George Floyd.
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The initiative comes amid a wider crackdown against what seems to be only conservative-leaning voices. Social media companies, including Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc., have taken down Trump’s personal accounts.
Other conservatives have also had their accounts temporarily suspended or permanently removed from the platforms.