Chinese-Style Social Credit Is Here: Gab Founder Says He's Blocked From Using Visa Over Vague 'Hate Speech' Charge

“Build your own platforms,” they said. So Gab did. Now they’re banned too. If you thought that the social credit system in China, where dissidents can’t travel or buy things, would never come here, you’re wrong. It’s already here and the founder of Gab, a free-speech platform, is one of its first victims. Andrew Torba wrote an editorial about his experience and the discrimination he is facing for owning a completely legal free speech platform. 

As many of you already know we learned last week that Visa blacklisted Gab and we are now unable to process credit and debit card transactions. We learned more information this week and I think it’s important that I share it as a warning for others. It’s not just Gab that is blacklisted. It’s also my family. 

In China there is something called the Social Credit System, which was developed by the Communist Chinese Party as a “national reputation system.” This system tracks the “trustworthiness” of individuals, businesses, and organizations. “Trustworthiness” here means total and complete submission to the Chinese Communist Party. 

If the Communist Party deems you to be untrustworthy, you are denied access to plane tickets, train tickets, opening and operating businesses, and more. The article goes on to report that in China, “26.82 million air tickets, as well as 5.96 million high-speed rail tickets, have been denied to people who were deemed ‘untrustworthy (失信).'” 

Torba’s family is now facing eerily similar consequences for hosting a free speech social media platform. To most Americans this sounds horrifying, and it is. 

I now know from first-hand experience because this social credit system exists in the United States. While it may not be sanctioned by the United States government, it most certainly has been deployed by US corporations who today have in many ways more power, data, and control over our lives than our government does. Many of these corporations also happen to be endorsing and raising money for communist organizations, revolutionaries, and the domestic terrorists burning down our cities. 

We were told this week that not only is Gab blacklisted by Visa as a business, but my personal name, phone number, address, and more are all also blacklisted by Visa. If I wanted to leave Gab tomorrow (something that isn’t going to happen) and start a lemonade stand I wouldn’t be able to obtain merchant processing for it.

GRTWT.