PayPal says US advised it to stop Wikileaks payments

PayPal has said that its decision to stop users from using its service to make donations to Wikileaks was made after advice from the US government.

A senior official at the online payments firm said the State Department had told it that the activities of the website were illegal in the US.

PayPal suspended payments to Wikileaks last week, and has been followed by Visa Europe and Mastercard.

Amazon and Swiss bank PostFinance have also cut ties with Wikileaks.

PayPal’s clarification came from the firm’s vice-president Osama Bedier.

He said the company had carried out its actions after receiving a letter from the State Department, adding that it was a “straightforward” decision.

PayPal is owned by US online auction giant eBay.

Legal threat

On Tuesday, Mastercard said that it was suspending payments to Wikileaks “until the situation is resolved”.

Datacell says Visa and Mastercard’s decisions could harm its own business

This was followed by Visa Europe on Wednesday, which said it would be carrying out an investigation into the whistle-blowing website.

Visa Europe said it wanted to determine whether the nature of Wikileaks’ business “contravenes Visa operating rules”.

Both companies are now facing the threat of legal action from the IT company that enables Wikileaks to accept credit and debit card donations.

Swiss-based Datacell said it would move immediately to try to force Visa Europe and Mastercard to resume allowing payments to the whistle-blowing website.

Datacell added that Visa Europe and Mastercard’s actions could harm its own business.

A spokeswoman for Visa Europe said it would not be making any comment regarding Datacell at this time. Mastercard has also yet to make a statement.

Mastercard has, however, commented on claims that pro-Wikileaks internet hackers had brought down its website.

Mastercard said there was “no impact” on people’s ability to use their cards for transactions.

Datacell’s chief executive Andreas Fink urged Visa to “just simply do their business where they are good at – transferring money”.

Datacell added that the suspension would last for an initial seven days, but this has yet to be confirmed by Visa Europe.

The founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, was arrested in London on Tuesday, connected to sexual assault allegations in Sweden.

He was refused bail, but has vowed to fight extradition.

via BBC News – PayPal says US advised it to stop Wikileaks payments.