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PayPal is currently blocking all transactions containing the word “tardigrade”

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Re: PayPal is currently blocking all transactions containing the word “tardigrade”

#141

Post by lotsofpulp »

purple-again wrote: post #64
oblio wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guessing it's because of Cuba. I'd wonder why the US is still embargoing Cuba after all these years. What's the endgame? What's the goal? The Cuban regime is still there and the Soviets are long gone. It seems petty and spiteful.

Like most things in America it comes down to political pandering thanks to the two party system. You may have noticed a lot of progress or corruption on the Cuba front in recent memory based on your political affiliation. There is a large “Cuban” American population that primarily hates the regime in control of Cuba and will support the political opponent that is speaking tough on Cuba. Whether you care about Soviet’…

And we have to care about South Florida because of the undemocratic system of the electoral college.

Re: PayPal is currently blocking all transactions containing the word “tardigrade”

#142

Post by btrask »

CydeWeys wrote: post #140
calvinmorrison wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's very annoying. I worked at a shop that sold cigars online. No actual cubans, but brands that used the name cuba in it. Inadvertently every time it would get flagged.

This seems like poor branding on the part of the cigar brands (at least for online sales).

Is "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!" a bad brand for margarine? Imagine it getting flagged by the butter police.

Re: PayPal is currently blocking all transactions containing the word “tardigrade”

#143

Post by mschuster91 »

oblio wrote: post #55
ganomi wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another example for keyword matching: I work on a German/Polish team. We sent money for a birthday present from Germany to Poland. Someone used the colleagues' nickname "Kuba" in the subject line. The Paypal account of the Polish colleague was blocked afterwards. But he could resolve the issue via support afaik.

I'm guessing it's because of Cuba. I'd wonder why the US is still embargoing Cuba after all these years. What's the endgame? What's the goal? The Cuban regime is still there and the Soviets are long gone. It seems petty and spiteful.

Letting Cuba off the hook would require politicians to admit they are wrong and have been for decades. In contrast, keeping the sanctions up does not cost the government much and companies have long factored in the sanctions/compliance as cost of doing business, so there is no pressure on politics from that side.

Re: PayPal is currently blocking all transactions containing the word “tardigrade”

#144

Post by _Microft »

imnotjames wrote: post #123
_Microft wrote: post #7

Per [0], a possible answer to this seems to be that an arms dealer had connections to a company called Tardigrade Ltd. and all transactions with firms like these are prohibited which is why the word "Tardigrade" made it into PayPal's filter. As long as companies like PayPal have issues like that, or with moderation in case of Youtube, Twitter or Facebook, I'd claim neither of these companies have actually solved scal…

PayPal gets a list of banned strings from the Office of Foreign Asset controls. If any match those strings it's flagged for a review. This is more or less legally required for any company that moves money in the United States of America. You will probably find the same issues with the same terms on any other banking for financial body. Technically, these aren't being blocked. They're being audited. The payments will…

And the strings from this list have to be matched indiscriminately against everything? Names of account holders, text in the reference field of a transaction (if such a thing exists in the US), whatever?

Re: PayPal is currently blocking all transactions containing the word “tardigrade”

#145

Post by rosstex »

awinter-py wrote: post #132

'this is an arbitrary + stupid mistake by a company known for drawing lines in the sand over stupid rules' is the less scary answer here we know tardigrades can travel through space. what if the aliens are already here tardigrades founded paypal to demoralize us with arbitrary + stupid rules, and their only weakness is the streisand effect

The only thing that would improve this comment is an embedded image of a tardigrade. Mods?

Re: PayPal is currently blocking all transactions containing the word “tardigrade”

#146

Post by myrandomcomment »

CydeWeys wrote: post #140
calvinmorrison wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's very annoying. I worked at a shop that sold cigars online. No actual cubans, but brands that used the name cuba in it. Inadvertently every time it would get flagged.

This seems like poor branding on the part of the cigar brands (at least for online sales).

When Castro took over the owners of the brands fled and took the rights to the brands with them. At the same time the Cuban government kept making the cigars under the same name. So for every major brand you will find 2 in the world, one Cuban, one not.

Re: PayPal is currently blocking all transactions containing the word “tardigrade”

#147

Post by imnotjames »

_Microft wrote: post #144
imnotjames wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PayPal gets a list of banned strings from the Office of Foreign Asset controls. If any match those strings it's flagged for a review. This is more or less legally required for any company that moves money in the United States of America. You will probably find the same issues with the same terms on any other banking for financial body. Technically, these aren't being blocked. They're being audited. The payments will…

And the strings from this list have to be matched indiscriminately against everything? Names of account holders, text in the reference field of a transaction (if such a thing exists in the US), whatever?

I haven't read the actual guidelines / rules / etc put out by OFAC in over a year but that was the gist of it from the legal team.

Re: PayPal is currently blocking all transactions containing the word “tardigrade”

#148

Post by the8472 »

gruez wrote: post #107
the8472 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But for regular banks service to private citizens is also compulsory, so they can't just choose the easy path by blocking a transaction based on keyword filters, they must do the intended auditing. So for them there is a balance, for paypal there isn't.

>But for regular banks service to private citizens is also compulsory what country is that? AFAIK in the US most businesses can refuse to do business with you for any reason, except a very limited set of reasons related to discrimination[1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_group

Whole EU, per directive 2014/92/EU

> 44) Consumers should be guaranteed access to a range of basic payment services. Services linked to payment accounts with basic features should include the facility to place funds and withdraw cash. Consumers should be able to undertake essential payment transactions such as receiving income or benefits, paying bills or taxes and purchasing goods and services, including via direct debit, credit transfer and the use of a payment card. Such services should allow the purchase of goods and services online and should give consumers the opportunity to initiate payment orders via the credit institution’s online facility, where available. However, a payment account with basic features should not be restricted to online usage as this would create an obstacle for consumers without internet access.

Re: PayPal is currently blocking all transactions containing the word “tardigrade”

#149

Post by Kadin »

btrask wrote: post #142
CydeWeys wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems like poor branding on the part of the cigar brands (at least for online sales).

Is "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!" a bad brand for margarine? Imagine it getting flagged by the butter police.

Well, they have managed to generate a class-action lawsuit, although it's more over the zero-calorie claim:

https://dev.theclassactionguide.com/News/3029/I_Can%E2%80%99...

Re: PayPal is currently blocking all transactions containing the word “tardigrade”

#150

Post by badwolf »

ganomi wrote: post #54
mrweasel wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know if PayPal ever claimed otherwise, but I’ve suspected that much of the AI powered moderation online is simply advanced keyword matching. We have to start accepting that either websites are unwilling to or unable to do moderation in any meaningful way, unless they hire human moderators at huge costs. Hearing an interview with the country for Facebook on Danish radio just two weeks ago, it’s pretty clear to…

Another example for keyword matching: I work on a German/Polish team. We sent money for a birthday present from Germany to Poland. Someone used the colleagues' nickname "Kuba" in the subject line. The Paypal account of the Polish colleague was blocked afterwards. But he could resolve the issue via support afaik.

I wonder if Cuba Gooding Jr. has issues any time he tries to do something online with PayPal or such
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