Stripe Blocks Processing For Trump Campaign Donations

Stripe will not be processing any more payments related to President Donald Trump's campaign website after last week's riot at the Capitol, which Trump helped to incite, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Sunday (Jan. 10).

Stripe, which handles card payments for millions of online businesses, booted the Trump campaign site and fundraising apparatus for violating the rule against inciting violence, according to WSJ.

The Trump campaign didn't respond for comment, WSJ reported.

When signing up for Stripe, users are asked to agree to a stipend that they won't accept pay for high-risk activities and anything that "engages in, encourages, promotes or celebrates unlawful violence or physical harm to persons or property," according to WSJ.

The Capitol attack by supporters of the president, which took place Wednesday (Jan. 6) after a Trump speech in which he asserted falsely that the election results were fraudulent, and right before Congress was set to legitimize President-elect Joe Biden's victory, has caused numerous online giants to sever ties with the outgoing president. Facebook banned Trump's account indefinitely, and in a landmark social media decision, Twitter permanently suspended Trump's account on Friday (Jan. 8), citing its aversion to risking any further violent incitements.

In addition, Shopify has nixed stores run by Trump's businesses and campaigns. And some political action committees have also halted donations to Republican lawmakers.

This isn't the first time violent acts have spurred tech companies to block or suspend accounts. In the wake of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting in 2018 that killed 11 people, Stripe cut off right-wing social media platform Gab.com, which had held messages from the alleged shooter, WSJ reported.

In December, Stripe launched Stripe Treasury, working with Citi, Goldman Sachs, Barclays and other financial institutions on a new way to offer a range of financial services, including debit cards, bank accounts and other products meant to reach the online merchants and vendors using Stripe's platform. The program is Stripe's newest initiative to tap into the online business financing and lending market.