PayPal made waves over the summer by inserting a term of service stating that it could fine those who use it and spread misinformation, as statements that are e “fraudulent, promote misinformation or are unlawful” are against its terms of service and could lead to a $2,500 fine. The policy was quickly withdrawn, but it still startled many who saw woke capital taking another step to censor opposing viewpoints.
At the time, Elon Musk, the new CEO of Twitter and one of the founders of PayPal, chimed in to call out that insanity.
That came when Elon posted “Agreed” in response to a tweet from PayPal’s former president David Marcus in which Marcus said that the new policy “goes against everything I believe in” and added that “A private company now gets to decide to take your money if you say something they disagree with. Insanity”.
Well, now Elon’s taking action to stop woke Paypal from fining users for “misinformation,” which he and many others think is “insanity.” To do so, Elon is building payments infrastructure into Twitter, a move that would cut out PayPal and give users the opportunity to pay for goods and services while working with and through a company they like rather than one that hates them.
The Financial Times, reporting on Elon’s latest step to combat wokeness, said:
Esther Crawford, a fast-rising lieutenant to Musk inside Twitter, has started to map out the architecture needed to facilitate payments on the platform with a small team, according to two people familiar with the company’s plans.
The nascent moves to allow payments through the site are a critical part of Musk’s plan to open up fresh revenue streams. Twitter’s $5bn-a-year advertising business has cratered since he bought the platform for $44bn in October, with marketers citing concerns over its management and moderation.
Musk has previously said he wants Twitter to offer fintech services such as peer-to-peer transactions, savings accounts and debit cards, as part of a masterplan to launch an “everything app” that incorporates messaging, payments and commerce. In 1999, Musk co-founded X.com, one of the first online banks, which later became part of payments giant PayPal.
[…]Twitter is also pushing forward with the regulatory checks needed before launching a payment service. In November, Twitter registered with the US Treasury as a payments processor, according to a regulatory filing. It had now also begun to apply for some of the state licences it would need in order to launch, these people said.
Elon tweeted about the new payment platform as well. In response to a tweet by “Doge Designer” saying “The man who reinvented the payment system back in 1999 is all set to do it again. @elonmusk“, Elon said “It’s gonna be great.”
It’s gonna be great
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 13, 2022
People on Twitter were largely positive about the new move, commenting things like:
“That’s awesome. Finally, an alternative to the payment systems from those woke companies. Finally,@ElonMusk is giving us technological alternatives to the products from woke companies who are willing at an instant to cancel you when the mob whines (see PayPal)”
“It’s funny to me that people actually think you are going to fail.”
“Twitter is going to become the one-stop shop for all content creation, from long-form written pieces, episodic fiction and non-fiction podcasts, videos, commentary, interviews (Spaces!) and breaking news. And creators will be paid for it.”
By: Will Tanner. Follow me on Twitter @Will_Tanner_1
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