MDI COMPLAINS TO PAYPAL ABOUT HOSTING FAR-RIGHT FIGURE KATIE HOPKINS

Get The Trolls Out! partner MDI (Media Diversity Institute) complained to PayPal after British media personality Katie Hopkins released a propaganda movie called “Homelands” in June. The film promotes anti-Muslim and xenophobic ideas, and pits the Jewish and Muslim communities against one another.

“Homelands” uses the aesthetics of a documentary, but is in fact a propaganda movie for the Europe of Nations and Freedom, a far-right political group in the European Parliament. Members of the ENF use this propaganda mockumentary to label Islam a 'cult', implying that Brussels is a ‘hellhole’ due to the Muslim population there and claiming that migrants are making cities dangerous for women. The whole project is akin to a mini-library of far-right conspiracy theories, from discussing alleged “no-go areas”, talk of Muslim grooming gangs, and supporting the idea of a Great Replacement of white Europeans with talk about birth-rates among Muslims.

Hopkins has largely used her Twitter platform to promote the documentary, where she has over 950,000 followers. In response to her tweets about the documentary, many of Hopkins’ followers have praised her work and the content of the film. Hopkins has also used her Twitter platform to ask for funds for future similar work, linking to her PayPal account. MDI has reported this account to PayPal and complained directly to the platform. PayPal’s acceptable use policy states that PayPal services may not be used for activities that “relate to transactions involving […] the promotion of hate, violence, racial or other forms of intolerance that is discriminatory or the financial exploitation of a crime.” Hopkins is in clear violation of this policy. She is using the PayPal platform to fund further work like Homelands, content which promotes hates and intolerance.

At the time of publishing, MDI has received no response from PayPal and Hopkins’ account is still up on the platform. However, the “Homelands” film is no longer available to watch on Katie Hopkins’ YouTube account. It is unclear why the video was removed from the platform and uncharacteristically, Katie Hopkins has not commented on the issue. We will continue to watch the situation develop.