
Payment processor Visa blacklists free speech software company Gab - throwawaysea
https://reclaimthenet.org/payment-processor-visa-deplatforms-free-speech-software-company-gab/
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dominotw
scary times we live in. Google/Apple , Visa/mastercard are monopolies that we
have to live under.

why are people accepting them even if they appear to be "doing the right
thing" at the moment.

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jdkee
Time for anti-trust actions against the big duopolies such as the credit card
processors.

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onyva
Yeah right.

Gab is an English-language social media website known for its far-right
userbase.[8] The site has been widely described as a "safe haven"[9] for
extremists including neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and the alt-right.[10]

Gab claims to stand for free speech and individual liberty,[a][25][26] though
these claims have been criticized for being a shield of the alt-right
ecosystem.[19][22] Antisemitism is a prominent part of the site's content,[28]
and the platform itself has engaged in antisemitic commentary.[23][29]
Researchers have written that Gab is "known to be hateful".[30]

Wikipedia.

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lostmsu
To be fair, there's no proof in your quote that Gab is not a free speech
platform. Being a shield for alt-right does not dispute that claim.

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reedwolf
Like all "free speech" platforms, it prompty turned into a Nazi-infested
hellhole. It's like a law of Nature, or something.

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s9w
I would try to offer an alternative interpretation: The opposite of that can
only exist in heavily manipulated or censored communities.

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throwawaysea
Just like with large privately owned social media platforms that manage a
significant amount of discourse (Twitter, Reddit, etc), payment processors
have an oligopoly on a significant portion of transactions in society. I feel
Visa blacklisting a company based on vague political grounds like “hate
speech” should be disallowed since it is not much different from the
government banning a company based on speech (in terms of impact). We can
probably expect other payment processors to follow suit, just like Visa and
MasterCard teamed up to stop payments to Wikileaks in the past.

With these fundamental utility organizations becoming increasingly political,
what options (legally/politically/technically) are there to work around them?

