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.
© Reuters / Benoit Tessier
Published time: 3 May, 2019 04:13 Edited time: 3 May, 2019 08:38
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.”
Martin Comments:
All the hallmarks of the “Far Left”. Sounds all noble and well intentioned, but has the usual “narrative” biases. For instance “anti-Islam activists.” are specifically mentioned as per usual, but no mention of anti-Jewish, anti-Christian, anti-Buddhist etc. Why not just say “anti religious”. So it’s a case of one set of extreme views pitted against another and with very specific targeting. This isn’t about making the world a better place; it’s about “changing the narrative” to bring about totalitarianism. I don’t agree with the Far Right either, but there are far more positive methods of tackling extremism. Evil begets evil, and replacing bigotry of one sort with bigotry of another sort achieves nothing.
