We are seeking stories from software developers and software projects that have lost access to financial services. This can include being cut off from a payment service like Stripe or PayPal, having credit card accounts canceled, having bank accounts canceled, or having transactions blocked. We are interested in stories of ongoing problems as well as temporary issues you were able to resolve.
We are especially interested in free software projects, but we’d like to hear your experiences even if you are part of a proprietary software project.
If you have a story to share, please email research@financialcensorship.org and tell us about what happened, or use our contact page.
These stories are part of a research project about how the policies of financial companies undermine free speech. Computer code is a form of speech, and if your software project is getting wrongly shut down by financial companies, we want to hear about it. If your story seems like a good fit for this research project, we will ask you to schedule an interview and ask for some kind of proof about what happened to you, such as screenshots. Stories can be pseudonymized upon request.
Why this matters
Financial companies have a heavy hand in supporting or undermining speech online. When companies like Chase, Visa, and PayPal shutter accounts and block transactions, it can have a devastating impact for the targeted organizations. Software developers and software projects are often wrongly swept up in overbroad terms of service and misinterpretations of financial law. We want to tell that story to educate the public and regulators about how financial companies are harming the free software movement.
Outputs
This project will produce a nonfiction book about censorship through financial exclusion, a website that includes stories as well as policy recommendations, and several short articles describing instances of financial censorship. This is an independent research project. The primary researcher is Rainey Reitman, a writer and civil liberties activist. Learn more.
Even if you don’t have a story to share, you can support this project by spreading the word to software development communities.
To learn more about the research project, visit https://financialcensorship.org