In a beautiful marriage of two organizations dedicated to making the world a better place, PayPal and the Anti-Defamation League have partnered up to “fight extremism and protect marginalized communities,” as per an announcement released on July 26.
Together, the two will research exactly how extremist groups and hate groups in America are “attempting to leverage financial platforms to fund criminal activity,” and the information they find will be shared with the financial industry, policymakers and law enforcement — three groups of people extremely qualified to combat “racism, hate and extremism” in an unbiased way.
To most, the ADL is a world-leading anti-hate organization. According to the ADL, the organization’s ultimate goal is to create a world “in which no group or individual suffers from bias, discrimination or hate.” They’re often cited by experts as just that, a trusted source for everything from classifying hate symbols to fighting anti-Semitism.
Yet the ADL also has a longstanding history of acting against certain marginalized communities, even leading over 60 social justice organizations to create a campaign called #DropTheADL. Some highlights of the ADL’s dedication to social justice include:
- Advising cops to infiltrate antifa and film protests
- Publicly opposing the opening of an Islamic community center near ground zero
- Supporting spying on American Muslims
- Targeting Ilhan Omar for speaking out against the Israel lobby
Needless to say, I am extremely disappointed that a company as ethically spotless as PayPal would stoop to such lows. It looks like I’ll be taking my business to Venmo, which is owned by PayPal.
