What is Censorship:
Censorship is defined as the suppression of information. Usually, you may hear this term in relation to the government or other institution as they censor information they believe do the public more harm than good.
What is Financial Censorship:
Financial censorship is the suppression of financial information owed to an individual. Recently, it has come to mean censorship of personal financial information. Some financial institutions have made decisions in response to events like extreme views and criminal acts to prevent legal transactions that may be affiliated with those events.
What is the Financial Censorship Controversy:
As you get older, you may notice that everyone has different opinions and they clash often. Opposing political views battle each other, while everyone else has a million things to say about one issue. It’s the advantage and disadvantage of democracy. But as everyone has different ideas, they start to demonstrate their opinions through peaceful protests or physical violence.
One factor that makes all those demonstrations possible is financial transactions. As mentioned before, some financial institutions have tried to prevent legitimate transactions from being associated with immoral activities by restricting those transactions. For example, Wells Fargo recently closed far-right Republican political activist Lauren Witzke’s bank account. She was told it was a “business decision.” This is not the only case, and some people believe it stems from America’s tense political atmosphere.
The controversy asks whether financial censorship is a good or bad idea? There many implications financial censorship can imply, with a multitude of consequences for both pro and con. The controversy challenges the public to think of the legal, social, and ethical facets as well as the consequences for transparency and censorship.
Written by Allie Chang