imagine going to the store and
attempting to buy groceries only to be
told your card has been declined you
offer to pay with cash but this store
like many in your local area has banned
it and is card only as a result you're
unable to pay and forced to leave
without the groceries you came for as
you exit the store you start to get
emails messages and calls from your
utility providers they haven't received
payment for their services and are
threatening to cut off your internet
electricity water and gas you call your
bank to try and figure out what's going
on after being put on hold for an hour
you finally get through to a customer
service representative who tells you
that all of your bank accounts have been
closed and refuses to explain why your
accounts were shut down in just a few
hours your entire life has been turned
upside down the account that you rely on
for purchasing all of life's Essentials
is gone and you have no explanation no
recourse and don't know what to do after
the shock is subsided you decide that
the best course of action is to open
another bank account and start afresh
but as you apply for new accounts you're
hit with rejection after rejection you
realize that you haven't just lost the
bank account that you currently rely on
you've been blacklisted from the entire
banking sector and will never again be
able to access the services that are
necessary for Commerce in the modern
digital age this terrifying scenario
might sound like something that could
only happen in a dystopian sci-fi novel
but for some people in the UK it has
become a reality in June former leader
of the brexit party Nigel farage
revealed that he was facing what he
described as serious political
persecution by the banking sector in the
UK
I got a phone call a couple of months
ago to say we are closing your accounts
I ask why no reason was given I was told
unless it would come which would explain
everything the letter came through and
simply said we are closing your accounts
we want to finish it all by a date which
is around about now
I didn't quite know what to make of it I
complained I emailed the chairman a
Lackey phone me to say that it was a
commercial decision
which I have to say I don't believe
we're single moment so
I thought well there we are I'll have to
go and find Adrian from Bank I've been
to six uh no seven Banks actually
um ask them all could I have a personal
and a business account and the answer
has been no in every single case there
is nothing irregular or unusual about
what I do the payments that go in and
come out every month are pretty much the
same I maintain in my business account
quite a big positive cash balance which
I guess with interest rates where they
are is pretty good for the bank too
faraj said the debanking had made him
feel like a non-person and posited three
theories to explain why he believes the
banking establishment is distancing
itself from him one of faraja's theories
was that his role in championing
Britain's exit from the European Union
has made him a Persona non-grata in the
banking circles farage speculated that
his political standing may also have
been a factor specifically he claimed
that a rule requiring Banks to conduct
additional scrutiny on accounts held by
quote politically exposed person a
designation that often applies to
politicians and their families may have
caused his debanking the rule is
designed to guard against the
possibility of foreign bribery and
farage acknowledged the rationale behind
such precautions
however he emphasized that the
additional compliance burden for the
banks should be proportionate thirdly
farage raised concerns about allegations
that were made by labor lawmaker sir
Chris Bryant in the previous year
Bryant claimed that farage had received
a substantial sum of money specifically
548
573 pounds from the state-controlled
Russian media Outlet Russia Today in
2018 farage vehemently denied the
assertion saying he's quote never
received any money from any sources with
any link to Russia farage subsequently
filed a subject access request with
Coots the bank that closed his accounts
to find out why his accounts had been
shuttered
subject access requests are a legal
right in the UK that allow citizens to
obtain the personal information an
organization holds on them upon request
the 40-page report for Raj obtained in
response to the subject access request
indicated that Coots hadn't debanked the
former brexit party leader for anything
related to his finances in fact the
report admitted that farage's economic
contribution was sound and that his
funds are quote sufficient to retain on
a commercial basis
instead Coots closed down farage's
account because his views quote do not
align with our values the bank made the
decision after a quote reputational risk
committee reviewed the report which
contained several reasons why farage
wasn't quote compatible with Coots the
report cited farage failing to align
with the bank's ESG and diversity stance
his opposition to Net Zero his support
of tennis star Novak Djokovic his
supportive former U.S president Donald
Trump his criticism of King Charles III
which was made before Charles became
king and quote adverse press about
farage additionally the report mentioned
brexit a nominalization that refers to
Britain's exit from the European Union
86 times Kris Bryant twice and Russia
144 times despite the repeated mentions
of Russia the report admitted that
there's no evidence of farage having any
direct or indirect links to Russia the
report also claimed that the former
brexit leader is regarded as quote
racist and xenophobic an assertion that
farage described as an appalling slur
not only does this report provide a
chilling Peak behind the curtain at the
measures UK banks are using to justify
the Deep platforming of customers who
don't fall in line with their view but
it also reveals that they're citing
pro-censorship activist groups when
making these decisions hope not hate a
UK activist group that supports
de-platforming and banning books that
they deem to be racist is cited six
times in the report in sections related
to alleged quote racism and or
xenophobia gender issues links to Trump
and conspiracy theories farage described
the quote stasi-style surveillance
report as shocking and blasted Coots for
debunking him based on accusations that
he doesn't align with the bank's values
so let's be clear the decision to get
rid of me wasn't Financial it was done
because somehow I don't fit with their
values they were bailed out by us they
were due to the rum and a profit as a
commercial business but no they are to
be the moral guardians of all and that's
because the March through the public and
private corporate sectors of left-wing
institutions who want to change the way
the world is organizations like
Stonewall has led us exactly to where we
are faraja's experience demonstrated the
power of UK Banks to arbitrarily strip
anyone even someone is well known and
well connected as him of one of life's
most essential utilities without even
having the courtesy to explain why
unless their hand is forced by a subject
access request and his testimony
inspired other victims of debanking in
the UK to come forward and shine a light
on the pervasiveness of this chilling
practice Reverend father Gill a retired
Anglican vicar from Windermere Cumbria
claimed that Yorkshire Building Society
told him his account would be closed
after he protested against the company
for allegedly pushing quote LGBT
ideology Yorkshire Building Society
responded to the allegations by stating
that it had adopted a quote Zero
Tolerance approach to discrimination and
arguing that its relationship with the
vicar had quote irrevocably broken down
Henrik Overgaard Nielsen a former member
of the European Parliament revealed that
his Metro Bank account was closed while
he was serving as an MVP p in January
2020 Nielsen said he received no
explanation for the closure even after
making a formal complaint Professor
Leslie Sowers the equalities and human
rights commissioner for Scotland said
that Royal Bank of Scotland which he had
been banking with for over 32 years
closed her account without any
explanation even the current UK
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has been affected
by the wave of debanking that's plagued
the country
before he was appointed Chancellor hunt
reportedly told colleagues that the
online bank Manzo had refused to provide
him with an account and these are just
some of the many examples of financial
to platforming that UK citizens have
shared since farage pulled back the
curtain on this practice this recent
Spate of debunking comes less than a
year after several other prominent UK
groups and individuals were financially
de-platformed by the U.S tech giant
PayPal in September 2022 the PayPal
accounts a pro-free speech group The
Free Speech Union News website the daily
skeptic and the founder of these sites
Toby Young were shut down
at the time young said he suspected the
account closures were because someone at
PayPal quote isn't very keen on free
speech and that quote the resulting loss
of Revenue will be hugely disruptive
PayPal didn't address the account
closures directly but said achieving the
balance between protecting the ideals of
Tolerance diversity and respect for
people of all backgrounds and upholding
the values of free expression and open
dialogue can be difficult but we do our
best to achieve it on the same day that
young revealed PayPal had closed these
accounts the UK parents group us for
them revealed that it had also been
de-platformed by PayPal the group said
that after the ban it was unable to
access thousands of pounds in donations
us for them's founder Molly Kingsley
said PayPal had provided quote no prior
warning or meaningful explanation for
the account closure Kingsley added it is
extremely hard not to draw the
conclusion that this is a politically
motivated cancellation of an
organization that in some way offends
PayPal Young's PayPal accounts were
subsequently reinstated but us for
them's account is still banned the UK
government is reportedly quote deeply
concerned about the flurry of financial
censorship in the country and the
treasury is expected to tell banks that
they must protect Free Speech yet while
the government claims to be worried
about financial blacklisting it has
spent almost a decade pushing technology
that will allow this practice to become
even more prevalent the bank of England
has been discussing digital currencies
since 2014 and proposing That central
banks May issue Central Bank digital
currencies cbdcs since early 2015. the
UK government issued a call for
information on digital currencies in
2014 and has been considering cbdc since
2017 and PayPal the company that
de-platformed multiple citizens has
worked with the bank of England and UK
treasury on a cbdc
cbdc's are a nightmarish Financial
censorship tool that allow governments
and Central Bankers to fully control
what you buy and own this control is
achieved by programming the currency and
the bank of England is a big fan of this
programmability in 2021 Sir John cunliff
A Deputy Governor at the bank lauded the
way cbdcs could be programmed to
restrict purchases and gave the example
of a cbdc being programmed to prevent
the purchase of candy Tom mutton the
bank of England's fintech director who
is responsible for the UK's cbdc has
also acknowledged that cbdc
programmability could result in a quote
restriction on people's freedoms when
looked at in the context of the recent
Financial D platforming in the UK this
programmability is alarming instead of
employees at the bank deciding whether
to close accounts on an individual basis
the D platforming could be programmed
into the currency at scale and automated
cbdc's also have very little privacy
when compared to cash while cash is
anonymous cbdcs are either pseudonymous
meaning transactions are linked to a
non-personal identifier or identity
linked meaning transactions are linked
to a person's identity the UK cbdc head
has made his disdain for financial
anonymity clear by describing anonymity
as quote a public policy problem and
something that should not be allowed to
continue
he's also confirmed that the UK's cbdc
the digital pound won't be anonymous not
only will the digital pound strip users
of the ability to transact anonymously
but reports are indicating that it may
also have digital ID features that could
verify a person's age in citizenship
status and control the purchase of
age-restricted items such as alcohol and
cigarettes and this year the government
and Bank of England have accelerated
their cbdc work in February the
government said quote a digital pound is
likely to be needed and launched a
consultation on a cbdc which ran until
June 30th in June while this
consultation was still ongoing the bank
of England awarded its largest
cbdc-related contract to date to Kin and
Carta a consultancy firm for the
creation of a quote cbdc sample wallet
proof of concept and research the bank
of England and the bank for
international settlements an influential
International Organization that's owned
by 63 central banks that account for
around 95 percent of world gross
domestic product also participated in a
joint cbdc experiment in June while the
cbdc consultation was still in progress
this experiment produced 33 application
programming interface functionalities
which would allow public and private
institutions to interact with a retail
cbdc and looked at over 30 retail cbdc
use cases after the UK cbdc consultation
closed reports revealed that it had been
hit with a wave of backlash for members
of the public who were concerned about
the way the digital pound would erode
their privacy but despite the public
making it clear that they don't want a
cbdc the UK government and Bank of
England are continuing to push the
digital pound
they now intend to spend the next two to
three years on a design phase for the
digital pound and could launch this cbdc
before 2030 the UK government may talk a
big game when it comes to opposing
Financial D platforming but actions
speak louder than words
cbdc's are an orwellian technology
that's Paving the way for a future where
governments can fully control what you
buy and where they can see every
transaction and as Financial censorship
is plagued the UK the government has
doubled down on cbdc's and continue to
March towards the digital dystopia that
they bring
thanks for checking out this video
report if you support free speech
freedom from surveillance and digital
civil liberties join reclaim the net
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