[Infowarrior] - Chase Shuts Down Accounts of Adult Entertainers

[Richard Forno]

The Morality Police in Your Checking Account: Chase Bank Shuts Down Accounts of Adult Entertainers

In the latest example of a troubling trend in which companies play the role of law enforcement and moral police, Chase Bank has shut down the personal bank accounts of hundreds of adult entertainers.

We’ve written before about the dire consequences to online speech when service providers start acting like content police. These same consequences are applicable when financial services make decisions about to whom they provide services.

Just as ISPs and search engines can become weak links for digital speech, too often financial service providers are pressured by the government to shut down speech or punish speakers who would otherwise be protected by the First Amendment. It’s unclear whether this is an example of government pressure, an internal corporate decision, or some combination.

Chase has yet to give an official statement on why the accounts are being closed. At least one of the customers affected by Chase’s decision to shut down adult entertainers’ accounts, Teagan Presley, was told by Chase that her account was being shut down "because she’s considered 'high risk.'" According to NY Daily News, her husband Joshua Lehman (whose account is also being closed) reports receiving conflicting information from Chase about why the accounts were being shut down…

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https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/04/moral-police-your-checking-account-chase-bank-shuts-down-accounts-adult


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