Paypal Has Suspended the Account of Epik Over Alternative Currency

PayPal has suspended the account of domain registrar Epik over its digital Masterbucks “alternative currency.”

Mashable says PayPal has suspended the account of Epik, a domain registrar and web hosting company, for violating its “risk controls”, prompting angry letters and blog posts from Epik accusing it of being pro-conservative.

• CEO of Epik criticized what he called digital censorship on other sites in a 2018 blog post.
• Epik’s starting problem with PayPal was with Epik’s digital Masterbucks “alternative currency.”
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Epik, based in Seattle, maybe best known for supporting social media site Gab. In 2018, after it was found that the alleged shooter at a Pittsburgh synagogue had written anti-Semitic tirades on Gab, the website was banned by its hosting firm, domain registrar, and PayPal. 

Robert Monster, CEO of Epik, criticized what he called digital censorship on other sites in a 2018 blog post.

Mashable said that Epik’s starting problem with PayPal was with Epik’s digital Masterbucks “alternative currency.”. It can be used for the purchase of Epik products or exchanged into US dollars and Epik has no correct legal action to run the digital currency.

But Epik’s senior vice president on Strategy and Communications Robert Davis said PayPal’s actions, in an open letter to PayPal employees dated 19 October on Epik’s blog, amounted to “abuse of power and overwhelm by de facto monopoly,” questioning the timing of PayPal’s decisions.

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“In a direct attempt to silence conservative voices, PayPal seems to have stopped our paid services – two weeks before the presidential election,” Davis writes in the post, echoing a general but completely removed complaint about online anti-conservatism.

However, Epik did not immediately reply to a comment request on Sunday when contacted.

Davis wrote to PayPal CEO Dan Schulman on October 13 that Epik “has zero tolerance towards racism and feels a force for good in combating inequalities,” before making bold complaints on Hollywood, Hunter Biden, the Democratic Party, and the South Poverty Law Center. 

Davis also stated that Epik was “aimed at and beyond the scope of its work and its core convictions” in terribly unfair ways.

In a statement on Sunday sent to The Verge, a PayPal spokesman said, “PayPal has in place extensive risk controls to alert our team to possible violative activities that take place on our platforms. The company reviews each subject independently and bases its decisions on risk management and compliance with our long term user agreement.”