Square trying to de-bank our company for having disagreeable political views on our web site

NOT WOKE SHOWS | Apr 30 | NOT WOKE SHOWS

[kellymcneill]

I am the owner of notwokeshows.com which is a web site that allows people to find entertainment content (movies, tv shows, games, podcasts etc) that don't incorporate woke content.

We have a donation mechanism (connected to square credit card processing) that allows people to offer money if they found our service useful.

After having received an anonymous donation ($1) that (for some reason) raised a red flag in square's system by whomever it was that donated it, square was compelled to look more into our company and (most likely) the non-woke criteria we utilize to determine which shows get added to our database (https://www.notwokeshows.com/criteria) and square ultimately decided to shut down its association with us.

The email I received from square said,
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“We recently reviewed your account and found activity that our platform is unable to support. Because of this, we are sorry to inform you that your Square account is now deactivated.”
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While I found their discontinuation problematic, square didn't just shut down their association with NOT WOKE SHOWS but seemingly communicated with all the major credit card companies to discontinue business with us as well.

Before finding out that this happened, I sought out a conservative credit card processing company so that I can continue to process donations without further issue and was fortunate to speak with the owner who liked what we're doing and wants to be of assistance to our cause.

He conveyed to me that it appears that square was seemingly working with all the major credit card companies to universally stop working with us... (to de-bank our company) and keep us from receiving any donations at all. Thankfully, he found a work-around which allowed us to continue receiving donations. We're in the process of incorporating that system now.

Square has since stated in a subsequent email,
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"Unfortunately, due to security reasons and the obligations of our agreements with card networks and other financial institutions, *Square Europe* [emphasis added] cannot reverse this decision and we are unable to provide additional details.
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This indicates (to me) that the issue is most likely Square Europe to be utilizing the EU's “hate speech” laws to shut down payment processing from companies they perceive to be in violation of those laws that receive payments from anyone in the E.U. despite NOT WOKE SHOWS originating within the United States.

I don't believe that the initial dollar donation offered to us could have been from someone so nefarious that it would prompt a shut down of our account. That seems absurd. If it were, square could merely stop the transaction from being processed.

Though I have no proof, This suggests (to me) that someone WITHIN Square Europe who was aware of the EU's “hate speech" laws and the company's compliance with them took issue with our web site, donated a dollar specifically with the goal of shutting down our account and ultimately all credit card processing by pointing to THAT transaction as a violation to start the process of de-banking NOT WOKE SHOWS with other credit card companies.

[griswold3]

📌

[kellymcneill]

We are a for profit business and yes we are incorporated. Donation is a broad term largely associated with 5013c non profit but it doesn’t have to be nor does a donation as a term have to auto-imply an association with being tax deductible. The donation is can still be regarded as a donation if it’s perceived as payment for a service offered.

Perhaps we could be more clear on the donation page that donations are not tax deductible if only to appease the lawyers however I can’t imagine anyone would assume as much but legal experts can be a fickle bunch.

There’s no legal reason why someone should fear copyright concerns for simply linking to a youtube video. Someone **might** be able to make a case if we incorporated the content on our own youtube channel and tried to monetize it but we don’t do that. With that said, the whole purpose of those trailer videos is for this sort of thing anyways. They WANT people speading those videos far and wide.

[Tom in Seattle]

Kelly, take a look at AlignPay (https://alignpay.com/). It was started by Fox News host Dan Bongino, and is designed to insulate you from idiotic leftist banks that deplatform people.

(I have no affiliation with AlignPay).

[SauronOfMordor]

I suspect it more likely that government bureaucrats told Square (and the other companies) to debank.

[xoxox]

slowly tightening the noose.