NOT WOKE SHOWS Reports: Some potentially spooky news from the deep state may be affecting NOT WOKE SHOWS.
Yesterday someone donated a dollar to us through our web site that caused our credit card processor (square) to associate the donation with a red flag in their system.
I had to fill out some paperwork to explain the nature of our business and that we simply receive donations from people who find value in the web site and that many of those donations come from people all around the world. Sometimes those donations are as little as a dollar and sometimes they're a lot more. We're thankful for every cent that people feel compelled to send our way be it small or large.
Well... today, square shut down our credit card processing and ~~didn't~~ wouldn't give a reason why. I've since escalated the issue with square's technical support however the support representative confirms that the shutdown is final... and it will probably stay that way.
The email I received from square said,
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"We recently reviewed your account and found activity that our platform is unable to support. Because of this, we are sorry to inform you that your Square account is now deactivated."
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Maybe it's the tin-foil hat that I'm seemingly having to wear all the time these days but this whole thing is looking to me like a case of de-banking because someone within square doesn't like the premise of our web site.
I've since found a new credit card processing company... (Found on "PublicSq." Check them out if you're unfamiliar!) and was fortunate to speak with the owner who agreed to wave all monthly fees because he likes what we're doing and wants to be of assistance to our cause. Shout out to Forthright Services LLC If you want an honorable credit card processing company that isn't woke... check them out!
We don't process a lot of online transactions as we're still a fairly new service and are lucky if we break even on expenses. If however my assumptions are right though and they are shutting our account down because of the site's *premise* ... I'll bet Square takes a P.R. hit for this.
I'll keep everyone updated as this plays out.
Comments
notwokeshows
from the old Disqus comment system
May 29, 2024
[Originally posted on facebook on April 30th] I have an update on our spooky, deep-state issues with square. (In an effort to bring people up to speed on the matter who may be new to our FB account... this post will redundantly included details that I've already mentioned in the past.) NOT WOKE SHOWS has (had?) a donation mechanism (connected to square credit card processing) that allows (allowed) people to offer money if they found our service useful. After having received an anonymous donation last week ($1) that (for some reason) raised a red flag in square's system by whomever it was that donated it, square was compelled to look more into our company and (most likely) the non-woke criteria we utilize to determine which shows get added to our database (https://www.notwokeshows.com/criteria) and square ultimately decided to shut down its association with us. The email I received from square said, --- "We recently reviewed your account and found activity that our platform is unable to support. Because of this, we are sorry to inform you that your Square account is now deactivated." --- While I found their discontinuation problematic, square didn't just shut down their association with NOT WOKE SHOWS but seemingly communicated with all the major credit card companies to discontinue business with us as well. Before finding out that this happened, I sought out a small but sympathetic credit card processing company so that I can continue to process donations without further issue and was fortunate to speak with the owner who liked what we're doing and wants to be of assistance to our cause. He conveyed to me that it appears that square was seemingly working with all the major credit card companies to universally stop working with us... (to de-bank our company) and keep us from receiving any donations at all. Thankfully, he found a work-around which allowed us to continue receiving donations. We're in the process of incorporating that system now. Square has since stated in a subsequent email, --- "Unfortunately, due to security reasons and the obligations of our agreements with card networks and other financial institutions, *Square Europe* [emphasis added] cannot reverse this decision and we are unable to provide additional details. --- This indicates (to me) that the issue is most likely Square Europe to be utilizing the EU's "hate speech" laws to shut down payment processing from companies they perceive to be in violation of those laws that receive payments from anyone in the E.U. despite NOT WOKE SHOWS originating within the United States. I don't believe that the initial dollar donation offered to us could have been from someone so nefarious that it would prompt a shut down of our account. That seems absurd. If it were, square could merely stop the transaction from being processed. Though I have no proof, This suggests (to me) that someone WITHIN Square Europe who was aware of the EU's "hate speech" laws and the company's compliance with them took issue with our web site, donated a dollar specifically with the goal of shutting down our account and ultimately all credit card processing by pointing to THAT transaction as a violation to start the process of de-banking NOT WOKE SHOWS with other credit card companies.
notwokeshows
from the old Disqus comment system
Apr 25, 2024
At this time we're in the process of setting up Forthright Services' credit card processing.