Seems quite sound to me; here's the introduction and some examples, but read the whole thing:
- The issue: Online payment processors like Venmo and PayPal often deny Americans access to these vital services based on their speech or viewpoints.
- The concern: When these companies appoint themselves the arbiters of what speech and views are acceptable, shutting people and organizations out of the online financial ecosystem for wrongthink, they seriously undermine our culture of free expression.
Imagine you could no longer use PayPal, Venmo, or another online payment processor because you run an organization that defends free speech for controversial speakers, operate an independent media outlet that challenges mainstream narratives, sell erotic fiction or "occult" materials, or … tried to submit an article about Syrian refugees into a newspaper awards competition.
These are not hypotheticals. They're real, and they illustrate why online payment service providers should stay out of the business of policing their users' speech and views.
Access to online payment systems is crucial for the innumerable individuals and organizations that rely on financial support for their expressive activity. It's essential to content creators' ability to earn a living, to websites' and other businesses' ability to raise revenue, to fundraising by political candidates and nonprofit organizations, and to everyday Americans' ability to consume content and support causes they believe in. When payment processing services act as political hall monitors or moral arbiters deciding what speech and viewpoints are out of bounds, they present a grave threat to free expression.
A small number of companies dominate the space, allowing them to wield significant control over the speech environment by denying service to users who express disfavored views or wade into controversial subject matter. PayPal (which owns Venmo), for instance, has 325 million active users. Merchants and individuals put on payment processors' blacklists may find themselves in a financially precarious situation….
Consider these examples:
