On August 22nd, subMedia received a two-sentence-long email from Paypal informing us that they have suspended our account for violations of their terms of service. We have every reason to believe that this action was taken as a result of a coordinated online effort, led by alt-right social media commentators as part of their larger #DefundAntifa campaign.
We at subMedia have been expecting this news for some time now, and have planned accordingly. We are pleased to announce that we have enough funds set aside to cover our operations in the short-term, and we will be moving ahead with a planned fundraiser in the coming weeks, in order to help re-build our monthly sustainer base on a more secure footing.
In a way, this situation has forced us to take steps that we should have taken earlier. The extent to which anarchists and other anti-capitalists currently depend on corporate infrastructure is a serious vulnerability. Paypal is not a neutral actor; they are a Fortune 500 corporation founded by right-wing billionaire, and ardent Trump supporter, Peter Thiel. Any expectation that they would honour the “free speech” of anarchists plotting for a world without them, is incredibly and dangerously naive. If we hope to be a serious threat to the Peter Thiels of the world, it is vital that we shed these liberal notions from our movements, and redouble our efforts to build infrastructure that is autonomous from corporate and state control.
Many comrades have watched the recent high-profile implosion of Rebel Media with glee, and laughed as online doxxing campaigns against fascists have led to people being fired from their jobs, their social media profiles suspended, and their websites taken down. But as liberals’ and mainstream conservatives’ temporary flirtation with antifa politics in the wake of the Charlottesville tragedy runs its course, we should not be surprised when the same tactics are applied to our movements.
We’d like to send a huge thank you to everyone who has financially supported us over the years via Paypal. We hope that you will stick with us as we make the necessary transitions over the coming weeks and months, and we hope we can continue to count on your support as we announce some ambitious plans to grow subMedia over the coming months and years.
In the meantime, keep your eyes on our Donate page. We’re still accepting bitcoin, and we’ll be rigging it up soon with a temporary option for processing other online donations, to help keep the lights on until we have a more long-term solution in place.