Conservative media personality Joe Biggs is the latest figure in the conservative movement to face mass deplatforming. Earlier in July, the two-time Purple Heart recipient was permanently banned from Twitter without explanation. He was also banned from Shopify at the time. Today, payment providers Venmo and PayPal terminated his accounts.
Biggs, who had over 241,000 followers at the time of his suspension on Twitter, reported that he lost his verification checkmark after he posted tweets calling out AntiFa after members of the leftist movement brutally assaulted journalist Andy Ngo at a rally in Portland. He was banned shortly thereafter. Twitter has not commented on his ban.
“Venmo is the one that hurts me. I literally use that to send money to my child for doctor’s appointments and to my mom who has cancer. If that’s suspicious activity, I’m glad I’m no longer with them.”
Known on social media as “SSGBiggs” or “Rambo Biggs,” the retired Army Staff Sergeant entered the public spotlight in 2013 following the mysterious death of Newsweek reporter Michael Hastings. Since then, Biggs has remained in the public eye and become an outspoken opponent of AntiFa.
Since his Twitter ban, Biggs announced plans for a counter-protest against the presence of AntiFa in Portland – activity that may have caused him to run afoul of PayPal and Venmo, platforms which previously suspended conservative personalities for political involvement.
PayPal CEO Dan Schulman told The Wall Street Journal in February that the company works with the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) to identify accounts to ban as part of its mission toward “diversity and inclusion.”
Conservatives have raised questions about the company’s partnership with the far-left organization, which lists several Christian and pro-life organizations as “hate groups” or “extremists,” including the Family Research Council. The organization also listed Muslim reformers Maajid Nawaz and Ayaan Hirsi Ali as “anti-Muslim extremists.” The SPLC was forced to apologize and pay Nawaz and his Quilliam Foundation $3.375 million to resolve his defamation claims against the organization.
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PayPal and Venmo suspend Joe Biggs' accounts[/caption]
PayPal and Venmo (which is also owned by PayPal) suspended Biggs’ accounts today for alleged violations of the companies’ user agreement.
“We have recently reviewed your usage of PayPal’s services, as reflected in our records. Due to the nature of your activities, we have chosen to discontinue service to you in accordance with PayPal’s User Agreement. As a result, we have placed a permanent limitation on your account.”
For now, the service is allowing Biggs to withdraw the remaining balance on his account into his bank account.
Biggs’ deplatforming by the two largest payment providers on the Internet further strengthens the argument that social media platform access should be a civil right.
Biggs told his followers on Instagram that he uses PayPal to take donations to “go on trips to cover rallies or speak at them around the country.”
Venmo informed Biggs that he was banned after it “detected some business activity on your account, which is prohibited by our User Agreement.” The company did not elaborate.
The retired soldier says that he does not use Venmo for anything other than transfers to and from his friends and family.
“With PayPal – we know they are openly biased,” Biggs told Human Events. “Venmo is the one that hurts me. I literally use that to send money to my child for doctor’s appointments and to my mom who has cancer. If that’s suspicious activity, I’m glad I’m no longer with them.”
Biggs’ deplatforming by the two largest payment providers on the Internet further strengthens the argument that social media platform access should be a civil right.
PayPal and Venmo have not yet responded to requests for comment.
Ian Miles Cheong is the managing editor of Human Events
