Wew.
This was going to happen sooner rather than later.
I just didn’t think that it would happen under Trump.
Buzzfeed:
Activists have successfully forced Mastercard to hold a vote by shareholders on a proposal which, if passed, could see the company monitoring payments to global far-right political leaders and white supremacist groups.
The proposal aims to see Mastercard establish an internal “human rights committee” that would stop designated white supremacist groups and anti-Islam activists, such as Tommy Robinson, from getting access to money sent from donors using the company’s card payment services.
It’s been conceived by US-based political activists SumOfUs, who want to escalate the battle against white supremacists and far-right groups from tech platforms like Facebook, Google, Twitter, Patreon, and PayPal to one of the biggest companies in world finance, in an attempt to choke off donations.
Tim Pool did a video explaining the situation.
He’s got a lot of details that may or may not be interesting for you. I find that Tim Pool talks a lot but says very little, and I have a hard time following him. But if you want to know what section 5 of the memo to the shareholders said, this video might be of interest to you.
Over several months, SumOfUs has been locked in a battle with Mastercard executives behind the scenes in order to get the new committee proposal put to the shareholders ahead of the company’s June annual general meeting.
It would see the formation of a “human rights committee” at the board level, which would monitor financial transactions with designated hate groups.
Documents seen by BuzzFeed News reveal that the US Securities and Exchange Commission has given the green light for shareholders to get the chance to vote on the formation of the committee, despite staunch opposition from the Mastercard board and executives.
The government, prompted by the “SumOfUs” NGO, seems to be stepping in and forcing this company to engage in political censorship because the government can’t legally do it openly or by itself.
In the material to be sent to shareholders, the activists refer to a website called Blood Money, which tracks online payments to white supremacist groups from the likes of Mastercard, American Express, and Stripe. The website currently claims that Mastercard services are being used by groups like Counter-Currents Publishing, Covenant People’s Ministry, the United West, Sultan Knish, and the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation.
SumOfUs has also pointed to the activity of Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. The former English Defence League founder is running as an independent in May’s European election.
First, they stop you from saying things in public.
Then, they get you fired from your job for having bad opinions.
Now, they go and get your bank to stop doing business with you.
How long before they go after your healthcare? Refuse to sell you a car? Force your kid to become a tranny or else?
It will all happen eventually.
They are in full “SHUT IT DOWN!” mode, and are trying to force everyone to play by these new rules.
Mastercard declined requests for comment, pointing instead to the board’s position laid out in the information sent to shareholders ahead of the general meeting.
“Mastercard is committed to treating all people fairly and with dignity, and our interest in human rights extends to all areas in which our business is involved and where we have particular expertise,” it reads. “The Board does not believe that establishing a separate human rights committee is necessary to properly exercise its oversight of this important area.”
It’s unclear whether the proposal stands a chance of succeeding at June’s meeting. But the move to confront such a big, mainstream company like Mastercard over issues like the funding of white supremacy and the far right comes after action from smaller, online financial platforms like PayPal and Patreon in the area.
This would be an absolutely crazy step for the company to take.
Even if Mastercard resists for a while, I think it is clear that this is the next logical step in the censorship campaign.