What if you woke up tomorrow and completely lost access to your bank account, credit cards, PayPal, and Venmo, all because of something you posted online? 

SUPPORT MY WORK: 

Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at usermag.co    

Support my work on Patreon for bonus episodes, monthly Q&A livestreams, and more: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz     

In this episode of Free Speech Friday, Rainey Reitman, advisor at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and author of the new book "Transaction Denied" joins me to dive deep into the terrifying reality of financial censorship and how major banks and payment processors are quietly becoming the ultimate gatekeepers of internet speech. 

Reitman reveals how a handful of massive financial institutions are bypassing the First Amendment to act as privatized censors, deciding what journalism you can support, what political nonprofits you can donate to, and what ideas are considered "misinformation." From the early financial blockade of WikiLeaks to recent debanking scandals involving independent journalists and nonpartisan advocacy groups, this hidden digital infrastructure controls your life more than you realize. 

SUPPORT INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM:

This channel has ZERO sponsors, and speaking out on financial censorship isn't advertiser-friendly. If you get value from this show, support my work so I can keep making these videos!

👉 Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/taylorlorenz 

👉 Support on Substack: https://www.usermag.co/subscribe 

👉 Pick up a copy of Rainey Reitman's "Transaction Denied" here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/804543/transaction-denied-by-rainey-reitman/ 

*(Note: Half of all book proceeds go directly to the Freedom of the Press Foundation)*

We discuss: 

The Nightmare of Financial Censorship

How Payment Processors Got So Much Power

The Rise of E-Commerce & Speech Dependency

PayPal, WikiLeaks, and Chelsea Manning

Censorship by Proxy: How the Government Pressures Banks

The Visa Lawsuit That Could Ruin the Internet