Robert Spencer, the director of Jihad Watch, says he will no longer do business with PayPal after the financial services platform briefly banned his account this week.
The author of “The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam” told fans late Monday that advocates of free speech were victorious — this time — in their efforts to push back at attempts to silence his work. Jihad Watch had its Paypal account temporarily suspended after an Aug. 19 article titled ’Despite Disavowals, Leading Tech Companies Help Extremist Sites Monetize Hate’ was released by ProPublica.
Mr. Spencer’s website, along with Pamela Geller’s of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, both had accounts frozen until supporters rallied on social media.
“Congratulations, lovers of freedom: your messages to PayPal and your cancellations of your account worked: PayPal has restored the Jihad Watch account,” Mr. Spencer said after receiving an email from the company.
PayPal Brand Risk Management warned, however, that a “thorough review” of Jihad Watch may warrant another suspension.
“The Left, seeing a golden opportunity when a Nazi psychopath plowed his car into a crowd of Leftists in Charlottesville [Aug. 12], tried to use the moment as its Reichstag Fire, and crush all dissent from the hard-Left line,” Mr. Spencer said. “And there is no doubt that initiative will continue. But in banning Jihad Watch, PayPal overreached, and encountered a crowd of free citizens.
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“I have no intention of restoring the PayPal buttons on Jihad Watch,” he said. “I know where they stand now, and do not intend to place myself at their mercy again. But nonetheless, this is a victory. Free people still exist in the United States, and the fascists who call themselves anti-fascists will not prevail.”
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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