Milo Yiannopoulos has been banned from both Venmo and its parent company PayPal after the former Breitbart tech editor used the platforms to send anti-Semitic content to a Jewish journalist.
“When an individual violates PayPal’s longstanding Acceptable Use Policy, the company will take action as deemed appropriate,” the company said in a statement. “We ensure that people do not use our platform and services to promote hate, violence or discriminatory intolerance.”
News of the ban was first reported by Yiannopoulos on Instagram, who posted screengrabs of messages he received from both companies.
A person familiar with the matter said the decision to oust Yiannopoulos from the platforms came after he sent a Jewish journalist $14.88. The figure is a highly charged white supremacist dog whistle.
The “14” is a reference to domestic terrorist’s David Lane’s 14-word credo: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” The 88 is often used in Neo-Nazi circles as a veiled referenced to “Heil Hitler” (H is the eight letter of the alphabet), according to the Anti-Defamation League.
The ban from Venmo and PayPal is not related to Yiannopoulos’ comments earlier this week when he told the New York Observer that he looked forward to the day when “vigilante squads … start gunning journalists down on sight.” Many criticized Yiannopoulos following the attack at a Maryland newspaper on Thursday that left five dead.
When reached by TheWrap, Yiannopoulos declined to comment for this story and insisted that the media should apologize to him for insinuating that he was responsible for the deadly shooting at the Capital Gazette. He has also vowed to sue the New York Observer and reporter Davis Richardson for its story on him.
Check out Yiannopoulos’ Instagram posts below: