PayPal Investigating Account of Neo-Nazi Hezbollah Supporting Group
The group also supports Assad and a Holocaust denier.
PayPal has started an investigation into the group Der Dritte Weg (The Third Way), a neo-Nazi group from Germany that supports Hezbollah, Bashar al-Assad, and Holocaust denier Horst Mahler. From The Jerusalem Post:
In response to a Jerusalem Post query on Twitter, AskPayPal wrote in German: “We, in no way, wish to support this [The Third Way].” PayPal sent a second tweet to the Post, saying the financial giant will make its inquiry into the neo-Nazis a “priority.” The Third Way lists various PayPal funding amounts on its website ranging from 10 Euro to 100 Euro. PayPal is the only payment method listed on the website of The Third Way and urges donors to sponsor its “party work.”
The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s chief Nazi-hunter Dr. Efraim Zuroff told the Post on Sunday, “If they [PayPal] are serious about implementing their policy against racial incitement and the dissemination of hatred, they should not be hiding behind the fact that Germany has not banned The Third Way, which is clearly antisemitic and actively promotes antisemitism.” Zuroff oversees the Jerusalem-based office of the Wiesenthal Center.
A PayPal spokesperson wrote the Post by email on Friday:
“We regularly assess questionable activities objectively against our Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). PayPal’s policy is not to allow our services to be used to accept payments or donations to organizations for activities that promote hate, violence or racial intolerance. Achieving the balance between protecting the ideals of tolerance, diversity and respect for people of all backgrounds and upholding the values of free expression and open dialogue can be difficult, but we do our best to achieve it.”
The spokesperson added, “As individuals and as a company, we may disagree with the attitudes expressed by some of our account holders, but we respect the right to free expression and open dialogue. As part of this process, we carefully review actions reported to us; and discontinue our relationship with account holders found to violate our policies.”
When pressed by the Post about the findings of the PayPal investigation, the spokesperson said: “Due to our policies, we cannot comment on the details of any specific PayPal account. However, we would like to stress that PayPal has zero tolerance for the use of our secure payments platform to facilitate illegal activities. We make every effort to comply with laws and regulations around the world. Compliance with these laws is something we take very seriously.”
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