FTC Chairman Warns Payment Firms Against Denying Service Based on Ideology

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Andrew Ferguson sent letters on March 26 to Visa, Mastercard, and other financial infrastructure firms reminding them of their obligation to serve customers regardless of ideology. Ferguson reached out to the companies’ CEOs, voicing concerns about financial service companies denying service to customers due to political or religious views. “Full participation in commerce and public life necessarily requires that law-abiding individuals can access, and freely participate in, our financial system,” Ferguson wrote in a statement. Besides Visa and Mastercard, Ferguson also contacted PayPal and Stripe. The chairman went on to say that it is “inconsistent with American values to deny law-abiding individuals the ability to run their legitimate businesses and feed their families because they attracted the ire of rogue American officials, overzealous activists, or, more worryingly, foreign governments seeking to control public discourse.”...