Payment processor Stripe bans the Trump campaign, prohibiting further financial transactions

First reported on the Wall Street Journal, Stripe, the preferred payment processor of online merchants, has suspended the Trump campaign account, making it impossible for anyone to financially support Trump or his endeavours online.

Stripe is a tech company responsible for handling payments for millions of online businesses and e-commerce platforms including most Shopify-based outlets. It handled Trump’s campaign website and online fundraising.

As part of its terms and conditions, Stripe asks its users to agree not to accept payments for "high risk" activities including for any business or organization that "engages in, encourages, promotes, or celebrates unlawful violence or physical harm to persons or property."

Stripe previously banned Gab, a right-wing social media platform, from its services after the company failed to moderate its users, one of whom was responsible for the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting and shared anti-Semitic messages on the platform. 11 people died in the attack.

The Stripe ban is the latest escalation in Big Tech’s clamp down on Trump in response to the attempt at insurrection in Washington DC, and the first to directly target money flows. Axios reported that several businesses will be pausing their donations to politicians who supported Trump’s efforts to contest the results of the US 2020 election by voting against the certification of the election, first initiated by Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley.