Laura Loomer, a right-wing activist and agitator, was punted from PayPal on Tuesday on the heels of being similarly banned from services including Twitter and Uber.
“We can confirm that we’ve canceled Laura Loomer’s account,” a spokesperson for the payment processor told The Washington Times. “PayPal works to ensure that our platform and services are not used for purposes that run counter to our core values.”
A self-described investigative journalist, Ms. Loomer, 25, has been previously booted from leading social networking and ride-sharing services over comments decried by her critics as anti-Muslim.
“I plan on suing all of the Left wing terrorists and tech tyrants who are trying to shut me down simply because I am a Conservative Jewish woman who speaks truth about Islam,” Ms. Loomer said in a social media post responding to PayPal’s decision.
“I have nothing to lose anymore, so trust me when I say I will stop at nothing to make sure justice is served for the way Silicon Valley has disenfranchised me, falsely accusing me of being a white supremacist, a Nazi, anti-Muslim, a racist, a bigot and every other smear in the book,” Ms. Loomer added in the Instagram post.
PayPal terminated Ms. Loomer’s account with the payment processor following publication Monday of a report that linked her to The United West, a Florida-based non-profit that has been labeled an an anti-Muslim “hate group” by civil rights organization including both the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Published by Right Wing Watch, a watchdog website run by a progressive advocacy organization, the report noted that Ms. Loomer posted on Instagram days earlier urging followers to support her “independent journalism” by mailing checks to a Florida post office box also used by The United Front.
Ms. Loomer posted the solicitation on Instagram following her arrest last week for trespassing at the residence of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat.
“I was arrested for hopping his fence and having a fiesta on his lawn,” Mr. Loomer said afterward, adding that Mr. Newsom allegedly “cares more about illegals than Americans.”
Ms. Loomer staged a similar stunts weeks earlier outside the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when she brought three self-described illegal immigrants to set up a “sanctuary” on the California Democrat’s lawn.
She previously handcuffed herself to Twitter’s offices in New York City after being booted from the platform last year in response to a social media post she penned accusing Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, of being anti-Semitic and supporting Sharia law and female genital mutilation.
Uber and Lyft each banned Ms. Loomer in 2017 after she ranted on social media about Muslims driving for either ride-share service.
PayPal has severed ties with other right-wing figures prior to Ms. Loomer, prompting federal lawsuits filed on behalf of similarly situated media personalities including Infowars publisher Alex Jones and Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes.
Infowars and its related sites were chased from PayPal in September 2018 for violating the company policies against promoting “hate and discriminatory intolerance against certain communities and religions,” the company said at the time. Lawyers for Mr. Jones, 44, attempted to sue PayPal for discrimination prior to abandoning litigation late last year in lieu of seeking to resolve the dispute through arbitration.
More recently, lawyers for Mr. McInnes, 48, sued the SPLC on Monday this week in federal court in response to labeling their client an “extremist” and a “leader of a hate group” — brandings that were followed with him being banned from services operated by PayPal, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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