PayPal suspends account affiliated with Ku Klux Klan

PayPal on Friday suspended an account used by an offshoot of the Ku Klux Klan nearly a week after activists flagged it, according to BBC News.

The company, which had pledged to “evaluate all sites” that could be using its service to fundraise for the hate group, suspended the account six days after it was first pointed out, according to the outlet.

{mosads}The Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, which formed around 2012, linked on its website to a donation page which does not specifically reference the group but says it is intended to give “a donation blessing for the cause,” according to BBC News.

The page now displays a message that says it is “currently unable to receive money.”

The nearly weeklong delay from PayPal in suspending the account caused concern for some activists.

“I have tons of concerns that PayPal is not able to act quickly and decisively on hate groups,” Nandini Jammi of social media activism organization Sleeping Giants told BBC News.

“There are some examples of them acting in a fairly timely manner. But they’re not applying [their anti-hate policy] in a consistent enough manner,” she added.

Jammi said explicitly white supremacist groups and people being able to use mainstream payment and advertising platforms to fundraise is “alarmingly common.”

“I’ve been tracking hate groups on PayPal for several months now,” she told BBC News. “I was just Googling for a new example and I kind of knew all I had to do was type in KKK.”

PayPal told BBC News it does not comment on individual accounts but added, “We do not allow PayPal services to be used to promote hate, violence, or other forms of intolerance that are discriminatory.”