CN PayPal Terminates Hong Kong Account of Pro-Democracy Group

PayPal Terminates Hong Kong Account of Pro-Democracy Group

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One of Hong Kong’s last remaining pro-democracy activist groups has had its account with online payments processor PayPal terminated.

The League of Social Democrats says that PayPal, a multinational financial technology company headquartered in California and Nebraska, sent an email stating it can no longer provide its services to the activist group.

The group said PayPal Hong Kong Limited had sent an email on Sept. 19 about the termination and that it hasn’t been able to accept any new donations since.

The text of PayPal's email sent to the League of Social Democrats in September has been seen by VOA. It outlines the termination and says the decision is “final.”

"Unfortunately, upon review of your account we have determined there to be excessive risks involved. Therefore, we will no longer be able to provide our services to you. While we wish you the best of success in your future business endeavors, we respectfully ask that you seek another payment solution to process transactions on your behalf,” part of the email read.

Founded in 2006, the League of Social Democrats is one of the last functioning activist organizations in Hong Kong. Over the years, several of its core members have served jail terms after pressure from authorities over the group’s ideology and activism.

Although the league is still active, in today’s Hong Kong, civil society and activist groups are a rarity amid a political crackdown. At least 50 have shut down in the last two years, fearing the risks of violating a Beijing-imposed national security law.

Avery Ng, the group's former chairman, said the group feels “helpless” after PayPal’s decision.

“We feel helpless and [that there is] not much we can do. The political situation and pressure cause corporations to stop providing even basic normal services to opposition parties, further hindering basic fundraising activities.

“[We received] no warning. No response from them for further explanation. Only response on how to withdraw the remaining funds from the account. It needs to provide us and the public with a clear answer,” Ng told VOA. “PayPal is one of our key tools for online fundraising. Their unexpected and unexplained discussion hinders our effort to raise funds for our court cases in an already struggling environment.”

Ng was recently released from prison after serving a 12-month sentence for unauthorized assembly during anti-government protests three years ago.

He told VOA in August there is no guarantee about the future of the group, which depends on donations to operate. Its founding member, Leung Kwok-hung, also known as “Long Hair,” is currently in prison and facing a national security charge.

It remains unclear whether Hong Kong authorities asked PayPal to cancel the League of Social Democrats’ account. VOA has contacted the PayPal Hong Kong media relations department for comment but has yet to receive a reply.

PayPal recently came under scrutiny in the United States after the company updated its Acceptable Use Policy that would have charged a $2,500 penalty fee to users that spread misinformation. Amid criticism from advocates and politicians, the platform said the update was filed in error.

Anna Kwok, the strategy and campaign director at the Hong Kong Democracy Council, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, told VOA there is a lack of accountability for U.S. companies that may bow to pressure over politically sensitive issues.

“American companies in Hong Kong do not hesitate to kowtow to the regime, as they know the consequence of supporting the political crackdown is pathetically trivial. Together with the upcoming November 2nd global financial summit, where multinational financial sector giants enable and endorse the regime in Hong Kong, these recent developments expose a lack of accountability on American corporates,” she told VOA in an email.

This isn’t the first time a prominent pro-democracy activist in Hong Kong has faced complications in accessing funds from an international financial corporation.

Ted Hui, a former lawmaker with Hong Kong’s Democratic Party, had his HSBC bank accounts frozen in 2020 after the banking giant received a request from local authorities. Hui, who later fled the city, faces multiple charges in Hong Kong and last month was sentenced in absentia to three years and five months in jail for jumping bail. Hui fled to Britain before relocating to Australia.

Apple Daily, the defunct pro-democracy newspaper, also saw its financial assets frozen after some of its executives were charged under the security law, forcing the company to close in June 2021. Jimmy Lai, the media outlet’s founder, has been in prison since the end of 2020. He faces three charges under the security law and could face life in prison.
 
PayPal can honestly go fuck themselves, they're basically committing financial terrorism at this point.
PayPal has been stealing from small businesses, acting as a financial institution while not being classified or regulated as one, and arbitrarily penalizing American speech for over 10 fucking years and nobody has ever given a shit or done anything about it.
 
PayPal has been stealing from small businesses, acting as a financial institution while not being classified or regulated as one, and arbitrarily penalizing American speech for over 10 fucking years and nobody has ever given a shit or done anything about it.
Why do people use it? I had an account for a brief period because this job I was gonna get recommended it to make it easier on them, so what the hell? I never got it. Never used it either. Displays your legal name, offers the same service as a bank without actually being one, and acts as a bootleg stonks and crypto broker too. Thing is like a venus fly trap for normies who can't look into things.
and i just solved my own question
 
Is PayPal trying to kill itself at this point?
It seems PP has a bug problem and it might be too late for the exterminator. Isn't there like WePay or whatever for their payment processing? Of course that could never even get moving on the runway in the US. At least not with a strong competitor like PP dominating the market. So what do? Simple: we kill the Batman PayPal.
  • Inside Bug gets the misinformation penalties baked into the TOS. Executives might have been unaware.
  • HK subsidiary goes off-reservation and unilaterally terminates this account. Even if PP Global wanted to reverse course, the damage is done.
  • "Oh Mr. Gweilo WePay very safe for big-penis US-customer! Security control and censorship are internal Chinese political issue. We no care what burger say/pay! Look what Paypal does anyway!"
 
I might set up an account just to close it again. Nah, I’m too lazy for that shit.
 
Why do people use it? I had an account for a brief period because this job I was gonna get recommended it to make it easier on them, so what the hell? I never got it. Never used it either. Displays your legal name, offers the same service as a bank without actually being one, and acts as a bootleg stonks and crypto broker too. Thing is like a venus fly trap for normies who can't look into things.
and i just solved my own question
Most people got one for Ebay or to broker for p2p online transactions. Ebay and Paypal have severed. The rest are small businesses who need to get a real bank and payment processor. Stripe now exists and smarter ones have started using that.

Paypal is probably vulnerable and they had inertia on their side. Stuff like this will kill them. All it would take is Strip building p2p transactions in a way that is easy as Paypal.

Zelle is that easy. And people who used to ask me for paypal ask me to Zelle now. Paypal only serves p2p customers who want an international target or places Zelle wont serve.
 
Because they can go to the Wah-mart with their Obama-phone and load money on it with their Barcode instead of getting a real bank to do financial transactions with, because if you try to shoplift from a Bank they usually just shoot you.
Walmart explicitly does not use Paypal. Reloadable cards are typically Visa. Home Depot does allow Paypal, though.
 
You literally go to the Financial Services desk at Wal-mart and deposit money in your account after they can a barcode on your phone.

I can do this right the fuck now you stupid retard.
The point is, you dumb nigger, is that Walmart is not condoning Paypal by having the service there. An ATM or kiosk is not associated with the store itself, which does not allow Paypal use in the first place. The public school system should be held responsible for poor reading comprehension from faggots like this.
 
One thing I remember back from 2015-2016 was that when Paypal & Stripe suddenly dropped Sargon and a couple others, pretty much to the surprise of everyone since their conduct obviously not-even-remotely violated any of their TOS, it was learned a few months later that it was MasterCard behind the scenes forcing their hand.
"Here's a list of people you need to kick off or we aren't supporting your platform" was essentially how that works.
Not to say that Paypal et al. weren't just looking for an excuse to boot the undesirables.

But I know I heard that again this year, can't remember who it was about, that it was a credit card company, I think MasterCard again, that was pushing to have individuals removed, and their pressure pretty much guarantees it... but it's interesting because it's so quiet and behind the scenes that they get none of the blame.
 
The point is, you dumb nigger, is that Walmart is not condoning Paypal by having the service there. An ATM or kiosk is not associated with the store itself, which does not allow Paypal use in the first place.
And? Wal-mart is making money over it (whatever share of the 3 dollar transaction fee Wal-mart gets) and it isn't an ATM or Kiosk, its the fucking Financial Services Wagie. It has nothing to do with condoning Paypal or not, the Original Question was

Why do people use it?
Jahmal and Cletus use Paypal because they can go to the Wal-Mart with their Cellphone to deposit money with it because our society no longer teaches people basic financial shit so they just have handed all of their banking over to Two Megacorps.
 
Jahmal and Cletus use Paypal because they can go to the Wal-Mart with their Cellphone to deposit money with it because our society no longer teaches people basic financial shit so they just have handed all of their banking over to Two Megacorps.
In fairness to Jamal and Cletus, if it's anything like the rest of the world, their local bank will have been taken over by one of the big banks and then their local branch shut down because it wasn't a "revenue stream".

Why a bank needs revenue streams other than maybe charging a couple of bucks for a fancy current (checking) account is beyond me, but I'm sure you can figure out why that's the way it is.
 
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