Stripe Closed My Account
Fuck me I guess?
About 5 minutes ago Stripe closed my account. I am not sure of the exact reasons, tbh. The email that I got stating my account was closed says “that your business presents a higher level of risk than we are able to support.” This was received immediately after contacting their support team as requested in a previous email that mentioned the “recently identified payments on your Stripe account for S. FRAGMENT SUBSTACK that don't appear to have been authorised by the customer, meaning that the owner of the card or bank account didn't consent to these payments.” This is a bit of a surprise to me given that the last time anyone subscribed to my account was in June and I have had zero disputes of the life time of my account.
This all started when I was contacted to add my phone number to my account, which I went to do yesterday. Then, this morning at 3:20AM I received four email messages about them needing more information and one saying that my account would be closed. Not the best way to start the day but there was a path forward.
They wanted to know what my business was and proof of it. Okay, I can provide that. Though it is a weird request given that my Stripe was created by Substack.
Then they had a big red bar telling me to contact support. Fine. I can talk to the AI bot before getting the option to send an email. Estimated 24hr turn around but that’s normal.
Oh, I got a response! And it was them closing my account, refunding my subscribers, and basically I can get fucked. But wait, there is a button to dispute the result, because of course there is.
Then, as I wrote this, I got a final descision saying they have permanently closed my account. I’ve written back going why but we will see what happens.
So what does that mean for us? It means I am turning off paid subcriptions permanently. I wasn’t making any significant money here but it was nice to know people cared enough throw a few bucks to me allowing me to buy a meal or a bottle of wine. Given that I have been looking for a job for almost 12 months now the few bucks here and there from my SubStack have been nice. So instead of paid subscriptions I will set-up a Kofi account and click links to that instead going forward for those who wish to throw me a few bucks. I also can’t pick up and move to another platform because this isn’t SubStack’s fault. It’s an issue with the Payment Processor, Stripe. However, that’s not the real concern.
When I mentioned this to my partner this morning, she noted that this has been happening to a number of LGBTQ+ writers recently. I am aware of issues sex workers have been having, OnlyFans had a major issue a couple of years ago, and Bellular News had just released a video about how Payment Processors are being used as a vector to censor material they deem inappropriate. There is also this piece detailing people being told outright Stripe will not allow the purchase of LGBTQ+ products or services of any kind. That material just so happens to line-up with Project 2025’s stated goals.
Stripe, in another new email to me, are now saying this is part of a compliance with the Know Your Customer Act (KYC) which was passed in 2016 yet the mythical information they are demanding today, wasn’t needed when SubStack created a Stripe account for me. So this started with them asking for an email, asking for information about my business, claiming suspicious charges, claiming high risk, and is now a compliance matter. It’s bullshit. Patrick Collison, the CEO of Stripe, has joined the rest of the tech oligarchs in supporting Trump (Patrick Collison changes stripes with rest of tech bros) which means Stripe, like MasterCard, Visa, and PayPal, are falling inline with the purity culture, Christo-fascism sweeping the global north.
I’d like to be able to give you a nice, easy solution, write you government weasel or switch processors, but there are no simple solutions. This is a long-haul, ideological knife fight. We’re all going to get cut. The onlyu really option is finding a way to cut them back.
This is religious discrimination imo. Yet they will always cry about Xtian persecution. Xtian persecution my a$$.
If you look what’s happening in the gaming space, the card companies are going apeshit right now in trying to censor anything they deem unsavory. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s connected.