Tommy Robinson, a right-wing activist and independent candidate for the EU elections, was bounced off of Stripe this week, severely limiting his ability to fundraise in the crucial final weeks of the campaign. Robinson is an official candidate on the ballot for the EU Parliament election in the North West of England on May 23rd.
Stripe, an online payment processing company based in San Francisco, justified the move by saying that Robinson had violated their service agreement, according to his lawyer Ron Coleman.
Stripe informed Robinson earlier this week that two accounts in connection with him, VoteTommy (his campaign organization’s account) and TROnline had been terminated.
In a letter to the company, Coleman noted that Robinson’s campaign activities did not seem to be in violation of Stripe’s service agreement and demanded that the company explain the specific basis for the suspension.
“The loss of the VoteTommy Stripe account for campaign-related fundraising mere days before the vote is severely hindering Tommy’s ability to participate in the Democratic process by which EU voters choose who will represent them in the EU Parliament,” he wrote.
“We presume that Stripe has no intention of interfering with the EU electoral process by using its online service to “vote” against a lawful candidate or to hamper EU voters’ rights to hear every candidate,” Coleman added.
Again, it’s a massive natsec vulnerability:
How would you feel about your country if it showed it would stomp you out of public life for holding a contrary opinion?
What if another country came along to support you? Would your sympathies change?
It’s only a matter of time. https://t.co/zstAGj0gyl
— David Reaboi, Late Republic Nonsense (@davereaboi) May 16, 2019
Robinson was arrested last May after publishing a Facebook Live video of Pakistani rape gangs defendants entering a law court in defiance of restrictions on reporting ongoing trials.
He served what was originally a 13-month prison sentence for contempt of court after publishing a Facebook Live video of Pakistani rape gangs defendants entering a law court in defiance of restrictions on reporting ongoing trials.[1] He was illegally arrested on May 26, 2018 for this, and the judge presiding over his case, Geoffrey Marson, illegally ordered all details related to his arrest and trial, including his identity, to be banned from being published by the country’s media.
His imprisonment prompted thousands of British citizens to protest outside of British Prime Minister Theresa May’s residence at 10 Downing Street in London and outside the British Parliament and demand Robinson’s release.
Robinson was kicked off off Paypal for allegedly violating their terms of service last November. The right-wing rabble-rouser was also deplatformed from Facebook, Twitter, snapchat and Instagram. YouTube removed adverts from Robinson’s account in January of 2019, saying that he had breached the site’s guidelines. Last month YouTube restricted his account due to what they called its “borderline content.”
(Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)