PayPal on Oct. 8 said it was not implementing a new policy that would have enabled the company to seize money from users who allegedly promote âmisinformationâ or âhate.â
âAn AUP notice recently went out in error that included incorrect information. PayPal is not fining people for misinformation and this language was never intended to be inserted in our policy,â a PayPal spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email.
âOur teams are working to correct our policy pages. Weâre sorry for the confusion this has caused,â the spokesperson added.
The company in September announced that it was amending its acceptable use policy, or AUP.
The policy, due to take effect in November, said that users may not use PayPal to for the âsending, posting, or publication of any messages, content, or materials that, in PayPalâs sole discretion, (a) are harmful, obscene, harassing, or objectionable, (b) depict or appear to depict nudity, sexual or other intimate activities,âŻ(c) depict or promote illegal drug use, (d)âŻdepict or promoteâŻviolence, criminal activity, cruelty,âŻor self-harmâŻ(e) depict,âŻpromote, or incite hatred or discrimination of protected groups or of individuals or groups based on protected characteristics (e.g. race, religion, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation, etc.) (f)âŻpresent a risk to user safety or wellbeing, (g) are fraudulent, promote misinformation, or are unlawful, (h) infringe the privacy, intellectual property rights, or other proprietary rights of any party, or (i)âŻare otherwise unfit for publication.â
For each violation, PayPal says users are subject to repercussions. Those include âliquated damagesâ of $2,500 per violation. The money will be taken directly from a personâs PayPal account.
Users were directed to PayPalâs user agreement, which states in part that PayPal can take a number of actions if users participate in restricted activities, such as holding their money in balance indefinitely. It also says that âyou will be liable to PayPal for the amount of PayPalâs damages caused by your violation of the Acceptable Use Policyâ at the amount of $2,500 per violation.
That money will cover internal administrative costs for PayPal to monitor and track violations and damage to PayPalâs brand, among other costs, according to the agreement.
Scores of people noticed the pending update in recent days and many announced on social media they would be closing their accounts.
âSeriously, close your PayPal account immediately if they donât reverse this today,â Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, said.
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