PayPal Continues Their Policy of Banning Porn Stars (Updated)

In the wake of the recent news that Chase was shutting down porn stars' bank accounts, Wells Fargo stepped up to the plate and did the right thing by asking porn stars to bring their business to them. Now it seems as if PayPal is reasserting its anti-porn stance.

According to Al Jazeera (link below), PayPal is once again blocking transactions made by porn professionals.

Online payment giant PayPal closed porn star Teal Conrad's accounts and "banned her from the site," she told Al Jazeera on Wednesday. An email sent by PayPal to Conrad, obtained by Al Jazeera, said: "We've recently reviewed your PayPal account activity and determined that you are in violation of PayPal's Acceptable Use Policy regarding your sales / offers of cam shows."

Ms. Conrad isn't the only facing the wrath of PayPal either.

Porn star Tasha Reign's PayPal accounts were also repeatedly closed over the course of the past year, she told Al Jazeera on Tuesday. PayPal's emailed responses to Reign's queries about the closures, which Al Jazeera reviewed,did not explain that they were related to webcam transactions but instead cited network "security" threats.

Porn stars aren't taking this lying down, however. Thank you folks, tip your waitress, I'll be here all week!

Adult entertainment trade group the Free Speech Coalition did not indicate to Al Jazeera that it would seek legal action to protect the industry's personal and financial interests. But CEO Diane Duke said that "in this day and age, for any bank to claim the moral high-ground is laughable."

UPDATE: This has apparently been PayPal's policy for over a decade now, and was back in the news because of the Teal Conrad account closure. We had originally reported that PayPal was the "latest" to adopt this policy, but it seems as though they've been dicks about this for years.

Via Al Jazeera