PayPal—PayPal proposed $2,500 fine for users spreading 'misinformation', then retracted after backlash
In October 2022, PayPal updated its acceptable use policy to include a $2,500 fine for users who spread 'misinformation' as determined at PayPal's sole discretion. The policy caused immediate backlash from users and former PayPal president David Marcus, who called it antithetical to his beliefs. PayPal's stock dropped over 5%. The company retracted the policy within days, claiming the language was inserted 'in error'.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Content Moderation | +toward | secondary | +0.50 |
| User Autonomy | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.221 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.59)
Evidence (1 signal)
PayPal updated acceptable use policy with $2,500 misinformation fine, then retracted
PayPal's updated acceptable use policy included a $2,500 fine for spreading misinformation as determined at PayPal's sole discretion. After backlash including a 5.3% stock drop and criticism from former PayPal president David Marcus, the company retracted the policy within days, calling the language an error.