PayPal's stock market shares fell more than 6% after it became known that the payment company intended to impose "fines" of up to $2,500 deducted directly from its users' accounts for possible violations of its new "usage policies."
But the screenshot of the policy says otherwise. PayPal caves after social media backlash. Read the full story below!https://t.co/5KX1d6O3RP pic.twitter.com/aWEdw86Xvd
- thetechstartups (@thetechstartups) October 9, 2022
News of the platform's policy change, reported by The Daily Wire, was retracted a day later, when the company said the new guidelines were published "in error" and apologized "for the confusion it had caused."
Stock market decline
The new usage policies of the financial tech giant included a prohibition on "the sending [or] posting of any message, content or material" that "promotes disinformation," as well as "hatred, violence, racial or other forms of discrimination - guidelines that were already included." Infraction of the policy results in a fine which can be debited from the client's PayPal account.
The moves appeared to spook investors, as shares closed at $83.94 on Tuesday, marking a 6.3% drop from Friday's $90.18, a total loss of more than $6 billion in valuation.
"How do I delete PayPal?"
PayPal was trending on social media over the weekend as thousands of customers expressed their dissatisfaction with its new policies and announced that they intended to cancel their accounts:
- Google searches for the phrase "how to remove Paypal" spiked as much as 1300% days after The Daily Wire report. They were still trending Tuesday morning, according to an analysis of Google Trends data from MarketWatch.
- PayPal was also trending on Twitter, where users criticized the reasons why the platform would take money out of their accounts. Among them was the company's former CEO, David Marcus:
It's hard for me to openly criticize a company I used to love and gave so much to. But @PayPal's new AUP goes against everything I believe in. A private company now gets to decide to take your money if you say something they disagree with. Insanity. https://t.co/Gzf8faChUb
- David Marcus (@davidmarcus) October 8, 2022
