This article was originally published by News Editors at Natural News; article republished from RT.com.
Blocking payments to individuals or groups by financial service firms impedes freedom of speech in a free society, journalist Ben Swann has told RT, following reports that MasterCard is allegedly on course to censor the far-right.
(Article republished from RT.com)
The New York-based firm is reportedly being forced by left-leaning liberal activists to set up an internal “human rights committee” that would monitor payments to “white supremacist groups and anti-Islam activists.”
“The problem is that everyone has their own views and, in a free society, the idea of a free society is that you are free to have your belief systems, as long as you’re not harming anyone else physically,” Swann told RT America. “But your belief system belongs to you and you have the right be wrong. White supremacists have the right to be wrong.”
MasterCard is not the only holder of purse-strings that is mulling the selective banning of individuals from their services and funds. Patreon and PayPal have previously barred individuals from receiving payments using their platforms, due to their extreme views.
But unlike crowdfunding platforms, being cut off from one of the leading American multinational financial services corporations will, most likely, have a much greater impact on the financial stability of an individual or a group, especially after the US Securities and Exchange Commission reportedly blessed MasterCard’s undertaking. By doing this, Swann believes the government granted “big corporations the ability to control what voices are heard.”
The issue with such an approach, the investigative journalist argues, would lead to a wider crackdown on financial payments to anyone who the government would see as unfavorable.
“The fact that the SEC has given a green light to this essentially says the SEC supports the idea of censoring these groups in order to freeze out essentially anyone you don’t agree with,” the journalist said.
“It is such a dystopian 1984 world view and yet we’re living through it right now,” the journalist observed.
Watch the entire interview below:
There is no “freedom of speech” pertaining to corporations. The first amendment only pertains to the government curtailing of your rights. Corporations are free to do business with whomever they wish, as are you.
What’s with the “left leaning” bit? Ben Swann is, himself, “left leaning”. What’s the point? Why don’t these authors just re-print the articles without adding their biased views and let the reader decide what to think?
Because, ya know, “right leaning” people would never interfere in your expression of ideas, would they? Howz about those laws being passed in “right leaning” states that forbid BDS or even the expression of dissatisfaction with the undue influence of Israel on the media and the government? That’s even worse of an infringement because it is actually government doing it. Right or left, they both wish to create a totalitarian state…just slightly different ones. Neither one expresses any concern for liberty or the pursuit of happiness. Interference is their game.
I just wanna be left alone. FTPS
If a baker in colorado is not going to be able to pick and choose their customers, then mastercard should also not.
So, basically they want to control everything. This is the real danger when cash is slowly becoming a thing of the past and the banks can make money from every purchase you make. Every day. Everywhere…. And how convenient that they can profile/watch all your purchases. God forbid you shop somewhere they deem right-wing. Or buy such terrible things like ammo, guns, etc. It’s the perfect way to put businesses out of business who dare to sell products they find questionable and “train” Americans at the same time. I’m sure in the not-to-distant-future we will find reasons to rate our citizens just like China. Creepy times.
JRS
“There is no “freedom of speech” pertaining to corporations. ”
But they operate with an FCC license. The FTC has through the Telecommunications Act Of 1996 facilitated virtual monopolistic control of the main stream media.
According to ACLU Attorneys:
‘Once a business decides to advertise its services to the public at large, it gives up the prerogative to pick and choose which customers to serve-even when commercial service involves some form of speech or expression’
Hello Kevin
I didn’t know that. So, is the ACLU suing Facebook and Google? If what you say is correct, it should be a slam dunk case.
The FCC is the enemy of the American people.
They have not lifted a finger to fix the MSM bias and their purposeful lying to the American people. They do nothing – why have them? Abolish the FCC.
DeFacto China style “social credit” scoring of YOU is already here. ALL of Technology is an Intelligence gathering tool for governments/elite.
Tech has only a few real purposes:
– Snitch
– Snoop
– Track
– Trace
– Surviel
Collect your personal Data. Make money off that Data.
And MOST IMPORTANT:
The purpose of ALL Technology is to allow the “elite” few,
to CONTROL and eventually ELIMINATE the many.
Please reread the last sentence.
Yes. They do want to kill you and your family. You are dealing with psychopaths. The rich “elite” are often, “worshippers of Evil.” The “elite” bring chaos, lies, deception, DEATH.
CONTROL then eventual Elimination of the masses is the TRUE/REAL purpose of ALL consumer level technology.
* * * * * 5g is a surviel and KILL, military grade weapon.
You are witnessing the Beast System being deployed.
Get right with God. Your Time is short.
Chaos, Famine, Disease, Destruction, DEATH, is what the tech giants/elite/governments are bringing to your doorstep. But YOU ALLOWED IT into your life. YOU are responsible!
So if they don’t advertise, they can pick and choose. Many small businesses operate by using word of mouth. I had a mechanic like that once til he retired. He always had more than enough work.
I was wondering if this same opinion would apply to the cake bakers that were run out of business because they refused to make a cake for two brides as the couple.
“monitor payments to “white supremacist groups and anti-Islam activists.”….but not monitor payment to anti-Christian groups, anti-Zionist groups, anti-heterosexual groups, anti-prolife groups, etc….!!!!!
I don’t know the specifics. This is the law back from the Civil Rights days when you had “whites only”. Gays are using it as we have seen in the news. It came from Paul Joseph Watson. I’m just passing it on. I believe that “open to the public” means “open to the public”. Of course I assume text as written actually means what it says such as (but not limited to) “Shall Not Be Infringed”, “Right Of The People” (applied to people), ” nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” (asset forfeiture).
oh ha ha once again exactly the wrong thing to do, stores will go back to cash only to get around this and I will do my shopping at “Patriot Wiggly” or “Safe(American)Way”. It’s almost laughably pathetic what they propose and yet they do not see how foolish they appear. Like a clique of high school girls.
What corporate USA is doing, is the same thing that happened to blacks before the Civil Rights Act. How is this legal to do to us or any person? Oh. The Civil Rights Act isn’t for us. It’s against us. Always has been.
Yet both sides work towards the same end result every election painting themselves as somehow different from the other. Biden vs Trump, gag me with a spoon. The voters will follow along clueless as usual.
What is Mastercard? 😉
For all the people who thought it was hysteria and an unfounded conspiracy theory to claim that the banks wanted to go cashless and then to take away your access to this cashless currency, what say you now?
Can you read the writing on the wall?
And, slightly off topic, what about Iran?
Do they have terrorists about to bomb our military here or somewhere, or do you smell a false flag brewing in the air?
.
Iran would want to pick a fight with the US about as much as Ho Chi Minh did. I see a Gulf Of Tonkin incident brewing.
No shit man. No shit. Shakes my head sadly. Did you ever notice the back door gun control thing? “Oh you can’t possibly be against us restricting gun ownership from crazy people, you’d have to be crazy yourself”. Newsflash: 50% of boys in school are on Ritalin against their will. Bingo-bango 50% reduction in future gun ownership ta-da magic. See how this works?
Just keep pushing. No really, do it. You’re guaranteeing what’s going to happen to you. Push liberals push. It appears to take a lot of provocation before conservatives will do f*cking anything, doesn’t it?
I’m glad that Mastercard is showing its true colors. Apparently, they dislike the color green. If they don’t want to do business with conservatives, we should boycott them!
Honeypot, the info was allegedly supplied by the Israelis. Go figure.
You can’t tell a neocon from a liberal.
And, cultural conservatism is no longer on the radar. People would think it was foreign, savage, so would probably tolerate it.
this app cut off my comments
I’m now cutting off this website.
This site has truely gone downhill over the last years.
I hate censorship