The regressive left outrage machine targeted top Patreon accounts. Patreon has joined the mob and started deploatforming content creators when they have not even violated any rules. Content creators are now searching for a new crowd funding platform for creators. SubscribeStar is emerging as a great hope but has now been attacked by Paypal and Stripe by pulling business. We reached out to SubscribeStar with questions, and they responded with some great answers.
1. As an independent crowdfunding platform, you are clearly a competitor to Patreon. Why should content creators make the big move to SubscribeStar especially with PayPal and Stripe refusing to continue business with SubscribeStar?
Content
creators and subscribers have their own will to decide what platform
they would want to be hosted on and associated with. We are not
trying to sway their opinion one way or another. We’re just
presenting an opportunity to diversify your online presence while
monetizing it. And, although aforementioned companies do
dominate the market, they are not the only payment solutions out
there.
2. Were the actions of Patreon, PayPal and Stripe a surprise or was there a forewarning?
We would be hesitant to place all three entities in the same bucket. And while we won’t comment on competitors’ actions for ethical reasons, the actions of PayPal and Stripe did surprise us, primarily because we all know that there are thousands of other websites that use them for payments that are not in compliance with their stated rule. We will not comment on Stripe at the moment either. They are holding a substantial sum of our Stars’ money, and we would not want to harm our chances at recovering those funds. The only thing we want to say is that Stripe was more inclined to provide an explanation, how unsatisfactory, of their actions. Paypal was the biggest shock. They gave us zero explanations on what exactly we did wrong, except stating that “we’ve determined you are in violation of PayPal’s Acceptable Use Policy” in the letter we received upon the account being permanently limited.
3. You have announced that you are seeking other payment services. Have you been successful? If so, can you reveal the payment platform? Will you be able to offer multiple payment platforms?
Short answer, yes and no. We have successfully found other payment platforms but prefer not to reveal which ones they are until they are fully integrated and tested. You hit the nail on the head with your use of the phrase “multiple payment platforms” as that is exactly our goal – to provide a variety of robust options for content creators and content consumers and remove the sword of Damocles from over their heads.
4. Will you be accepting crypto in the future? If so, what types? ETA?
Yes, we will. Our business and technical teams work closely with a number of potential vendors. We just need to figure out the best options out there. As for the ETA, we expect to be able to release this feature sometime around the Spring-Summer 2019. We still have many features in the pipeline that require our immediate and undivided attention.
5. We have seen multiple Patreon-type platforms come and go. What can you say to ensure potential content creators you are up for the fight?
With all the astounding support we get, with all existing and emerging technologies we able to utilize to our advantages, with all the willpower we possess, and most of all – with the freedom of speech on the line – do not doubt that we have the required resources, proper determination and will prevail.
6. As we foresee, the hardships you are suffering via payment processors is just the beginning. We have seen competing social media platforms lose their hosting services and even having to change registrars multiple times. Are you prepared for these potential issues?
There is no monopoly on hosting services in the world, and it is a frightening commentary on the state of society today that this is even an issue. If we are “de-platformed” by our current hosting or DNS provider, we will find other providers elsewhere that are not as restrictive and biased.
7. Is there anything that you have been dealing with that has SubscribeStar investigating potential legal actions?
At this moment we are really busy with the integration of the new payment solutions to give that much thought, but we have certainly not ruled that out. If any lawyer has a strong desire to take this on and represent us at some point, they are invited to contact us.
8. Now for the big questions that is very important to content creators. As an independent crowdfunding platform, do you plan to limit the speech of your users, or to ban any figures whose political or philosophical views do not align with the mainstream? Or are you devoted to freedom of expression and speech?
First of all, we don’t even understand what “mainstream” means at this moment nor do we care. As we stated before, we are politically neutral. Not neutered – just neutral, as it were.
Further, our Terms of Service state that they are ” … governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the United States of America.” This means that our rules comply with the rule of law, including due process and proper representation in court, if necessary. Everything else is merely someone’s opinion, and you know what they say about opinions. Therefore, unless we have a court order to remove certain content from the platform, it will stay. With all of that said, we still reserve our right to remove users from our platform based upon our own internal decisions. Please, bear in mind: as any other business out there – we won’t tolerate anybody who is intentionally damaging our platform’s reputation or business process and still wants to be hosted on the platform. Also, we do not accept users blindly – each submission undergoes a rigorous check before being approved (or rejected). So, if we reject somebody – we do that way before they start earning money, so if and when rejected – no financial harm is done. We admit – we make mistakes, which can be further clarified and fixed.
However,
those decisions are transparent and discussed with the affected
users, in accord with general common sense, and with the utmost
priority and devotion given to the protection of freedom of
expression and speech. We may not agree with what you have to
say, but we will fight for your right to say it.