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PayPal accused of attacks on free speech after blocking donations to independent media over Iran

ASSISTANT editor of independent US-based website the Grayzone Ben Norton warned of escalating attacks on free speech today after PayPal blocked donations that mentioned Iran.

The small donations believed to be around $10 (£7.66) each were reversed by the online payment platform after claiming it had to review the transactions due to “government regulations.”

Mr Norton warned: “PayPal has been repeatedly blocking numerous small donations (we are talking like $10 each here) to support our independent journalism at the Grayzone. 

“Why? Because they mention the word ‘Iran’ in accompanying messages praising our coverage of the US war drive.

“As Washington ramps up its aggression against Iran, big tech corporations are all doing their part in cracking down on anything related to Iran.”

PayPal started to refuse such donations to the Grayzone on January 3 when a California reader sent an accompanying message reading: “Thanks for all your excellent work and especially the Grayzone’s coverage of the murder of [General Qasem] Soleimani and war with Iran. You fellows are so insightful and brilliant.”

The donor received a message from PayPal’s compliance unit the following day demanding “an explanation of the reference to Iran” and the purpose of the payment along with “a complete and detailed explanation of what is intended to be paid for.”

It was subsequently blocked. Mr Norton explained that further donations to the Grayzone had been stopped, all of which mentioned the word Iran in their accompanying message.

The news site has also faced censorship from Facebook which removed an online video which “compared the rhetoric of Trump v that of Hezbollah and Iran.”

Despite only featuring speeches of world leaders, Facebook told the Grayzone that it violated “community standards on dangerous individuals and organisations.”

Mr Norton described the move as “outrageous, dystopian censorship,” saying: “We didn’t praise any group or make any judgements, just showed the facts.”

The review process appears to be linked to the US government’s sanctions on Iran. This has also led to YouTube suspending the account of the Iranian channel Press TV.

Journalist Ahmed Kaballo accused the platform of “psychological warfare” aimed to “demoralise us” after it was shut down just 18 hours after being reinstated.

As reported in the Morning Star earlier this week, Facebook-owned social media platform Instagram had blocked posts it deemed had praised Mr Soleimani, who was assassinated in a US drone attack earlier this month.

PayPal was contacted for comment but had not responded by the time the Star went to print.

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