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Government Pressure Led PayPal to Block WikiLeaks

by Terrence O'Brien on December 8, 2010 at 05:00 PM

paypal officeWikiLeaks and its creator Julian Assange have been under intense pressure from every side. The Swedish police want Assange in connection with a sexual assault charge, Amazon booted the site from its servers, the U.S. government (along with many others) have condemned the whistleblower site, and PayPal is preventing the WikiLeaks account from accepting donations. One group in particular seems particularly hell-bent on shutting down the site, and that's the U.S. State Department, which allegedly pressured PayPal to shut down the WikiLeaks account.

Osama Bedier, PayPal's VP of platform, mobile and new ventures, said that the company's decision to suspend the account was influenced by the State Department. "We [...] comply with regulations around the world, making sure that we protect our brand," he said at a press conference in Paris, according to the Huffington Post. The statement was meant to clarify the reason for the WikiLeaks blockage that began last week, which was attributed to a non-specific violation of PayPal's Acceptable Use Policy. Some companies who have also taken action against WikiLeaks -- such as MasterCard -- have found themselves on the receiving end of a backlash from hacktivists. When asked about the potential for PayPal to be the target of attacks, Bedier wasn't concerned. It's all part of being a successful company, he said.

Tags: government, paypal, politics, top, web, wikileaks

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