The reinstatement of a $2500 Paypal fine for false information that was rescinded earlier this month has the internet in a state of confusion.
Some Paypal customers claimed on Twitter that the money transfer service had covertly reinstated the fine-related language in its Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). According to Forbes, this is not actually the case.
Paypal Adds a ‘Misinformation’ Fine to Its Terms of Use
We should begin at the beginning. On October 7th, PayPal announced a policy modification to its AUP that would allow the company to impose fines of up to $2,500 per infraction on users who propagate false information or pose hazards to other users’ well-being.
The contentious passage, which drew criticism, was eliminated the next day and was said to have been added inadvertently.
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A spokeswoman for Paypal said in a statement provided to the Epoch Times: Recently, an AUP warning was sent out accidentally and contained inaccurate information. This wording was never intended to be included in our policy, and PayPal does not fine users for providing false information.
David Marcus, a former president of PayPal, stated that the new AUP “runs against everything I believe in.” Now, a private firm has the authority to decide whether to withdraw your funds in response to whatever you say. Insanity.
Rumors that Paypal Reinstated the Fine After Twitter Storm
Tweets that claimed Paypal had covertly reinserted the “misinformation” section into its AUP back in the past few days went viral.
Some PayPal users complained that the term “other types of bigotry” had been substituted for the word “misinformation.”
In an article that he posted, Twitter user Jeremy Knauff wrote: “The term other forms of intolerance is so broad that it legally gives the company grounds to claim that anyone who does not fully support any particular position is engaging in intolerance because the definition of the word is the unwillingness to accept views, beliefs, or behavior that differ from one’s own.
“Just an FYI@PayPalput the $2,500 fine back into their terms of service as soon as the controversy went down,” another user tweeted. Retweet this to spread the word. Perhaps this was just a coincidence. #DeletePayPal.”
‘Other Forms of Intolerance’ Is Not a New Paypal Policy
Another Twitter user chimed in with the notion that the policy Knauff objected to is not a new policy in response to this debate.
Kelly Kclarified on Twitter that [Paypal] never withdrew the $2,500 fine. There it has been for more than a year. They only eliminated a new part that highlighted falsehoods early last month.
The $2,500 fine has been in place since September 2021, according to Kelley, who detailed it in a thread.
She said that PayPal had deleted the Prohibited Activities annex’s problematic spreading disinformation provision.
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The other part, which refers to “other types of intolerance,” was present before the policy was modified and was not a new addition.
