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French streamer unbanked by Qonto after criticizing Palantir and Peter Thiel
- ThePowerOfFuet 8mo agohttps://xcancel.com/Ced_haurus/status/2018716889191498172 https://xcancel.com/Ced_haurus/status/2018716889191498172
- bigwheels 8mo agoSince it's in French, here's the translation: > They are lying to you. They keep repeating that "it's your money". It's false. It’s only a temporary access right that the system can take away from you with one click. > I dared to criticize Palantir. A few days later, @getqonto deactivated my card, closed my account and blocked my funds. Without a word. I was erased, and I don’t believe in coincidences. > When a "French unicorn" is funded by Peter Thiel’s millions, freedom of speech becomes a risk. Who really holds the switch to your life?
- bhouston 8mo agoThat can not be actually what happened is it? That would be insane. It should be against the law to privately retaliate like this.
- bethekidyouwant 8mo agoYes, as the comments point out, he has 11 K followers and this is most likely a coincidence
- pydry 8mo agoI was about to agree with you until i noticed that the bank was backed by peter thiel. It seems pretty in character and it's not like there is another more plausible reason being offered.
- gruez 8mo ago>It seems pretty in character and it's not like there is another more plausible reason being offered. In character of what, that Thiel is a mustache twirling villain? Did other companies backed by him have a history of banning his critics? >It seems pretty in character and it's not like there is another more plausible reason being offered. By his own admission, neobanks have a history of banning clients arbitrarily without recourse. My guess it's run of the mill incompetence, not oppressing Thiel's critics.
- josephcsible 8mo ago> neobanks have a history of banning clients arbitrarily without recourse. Not just neobanks, sadly. Even old-fashioned banks like Chase do so with alarming regularity.
- dust42 8mo agoWell, he destroyed Gawker. Not that I think they were good people. But it was definitely a personal vendetta.
- gruez 8mo agoGawker was a well known website with 23 million visit per month, and a Wikipedia page. This guy has 44k subscribers and no Wikipedia page. It's a stretch to go from "Thiel had a vendetta against Gawker" to "Thiel had a vendetta against this guy".
- dust42 8mo agoThere are now quite a few cases in Europe where the EU or local govs been de-banking individuals. No court, no judge needed. Much more efficient way to shut down critics. We ain't need no people who delegitimize those in power.
- orwin 8mo agoCan we have a link? In France, at most you can get your account restricted (can't go into deficit and a sum is blocked) until the issue is resolved (99% because of unpaid taxes, sometimes the money is blocked by a judge until a judgement is passed). It's weird if the EU don't have a standard.
- Luhrel 8mo agoLook at what happened to Jacques Baud because he criticized the EU on the Ukranian war and is now considered a "pro-russia" and propagating "disinformation". [1] I read what he wrote ("L’art de la guerre russe, comment l’Occident a conduit l’Ukraine à l’échec"), you can download it temporarily here : [2]. His book is absolutely not pro-russia nor pro-EU. [1] https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/various/former-swiss-intelligence-officer-to-appeal-eu-sanctions-for-pro-russia-propaganda/90682626 https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/various/former-swiss-intelligen... [2] https://www.swisstransfer.com/d/0117e2b4-8e70-4343-8097-7bfe11bfe405 https://www.swisstransfer.com/d/0117e2b4-8e70-4343-8097-7bfe...
- Wilya 8mo agoThe guy has a "Conspiracy theory and disinformation" section in his wikipedia page, that mentions 9/11. Come on. That's your "totally not pro-russia" example ?
- Ferret7446 8mo agoSo being pro Russia justifies de-banking?
- ThePowerOfFuet 8mo ago
- digiown 8mo agoIf banks have to insert themselves into every transaction (cash is banned for larger transactions), then it follows that debanking should be viewed as a legal instrument of punishment, and should only be allowed following a violation of the law, and subject to the usual due process like fines or prison sentences. Anything else is a significant infringement on personal freedom. Also, "freezing" the funds without a court judgement or the opportunity of retrieving them is effectively theft. If you didn't pay the parking fees on my property for a couple days, it's not legal for me to just boot or chain it or hide it somewhere (at least in the US), and I think the same should go here.
- walletdrainer 8mo agoZero indication that these things are related in any way. The streamer is a self-admitted basket case who does not “believe in coincidences”. As far as weird internet belief systems go, this one seems even a bit weirder than people who refuse to believe in a somewhat spherical earth.
- input_sh 8mo agoWhat indication would there be that the two are related? Do you expect them to write an email specifically stating that was the reason? For what it's worth, that neobank received funding from his company, which definitely raises the odds of the two being related.
- gruez 8mo ago>What indication would there be that the two are related? Do you expect them to write an email specifically stating that was the reason? I'd want to see a pattern of multiple critics being banned. In the same video he admits that neobanks have a history of banning clients arbitrarily for seemingly no reason. Just a few months ago there was a story of someone being banned from wise for seemingly dumb reasons made it to the front page[1], so it's certainly possible for people to get banned because of pure incompetence. Therefore you'd expect a base rate of Palantir/Thiel critics banned from pure coincidence alone. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45766253 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45766253 >For what it's worth, that neobank received funding from his company, which definitely raises the odds of the two being related. Right, just like you can come up with some spurious relationships from people being banned from wise, like the CEO hating pineapple on pizza (example, no idea whether he actually does) and the person being banned liking pineapple on pizza.
- input_sh 8mo ago> I'd want to see a pattern of multiple critics being banned. So it's cool if one person gets deplatformed, as long as it's not a pattern? Odd choice if you ask me. Personally if one side is financially backed by someone as insane as Thiel, I tend to need very little evidence from the other side to believe it. For what it's worth Wise was also funded by Thiel, so he'd be somewhat to blame (not fully, of course) for that incompetence as well.
- Luhrel 8mo ago[dead]
- josephcsible 8mo agoI wish more countries had an equivalent to https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/08/12/2025-15341/guaranteeing-fair-banking-for-all-americans https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/08/12/2025-15... that would make what's being described here illegal.
- takklob 8mo ago[flagged]
- GuB-42 8mo agoLike everyone else, I am very skeptical that it is somehow related, for several reasons. - He is just a small time streamer, I didn't watch his videos but it looks like typical clickbait content playing on people's paranoia. Why would Palantir care about it? - I didn't watch the videos in question, but I suppose that he says that Palentir is evil because it is used by police forces to attack poor migrants, that kind of thing. Not only he is saying what everyone is saying, but it may be good advertising for Palantir, as it shows that they are good at their (evil) job. - Streisand effect, I am sure that even the idiots at Palantir know that it may not be a good idea to give attention to a streamer who annoys them. - Speaking of attention, it is highly likely that the streamer in question was unbanked for a completely unrelated reason but saw the opportunity to make buzz, and it seems to be working! - There seem to be no further evidence connecting the two.
- lgl 8mo ago[flagged]
- lalospace 8mo agoIn my country (Italy) Visione TV had bank account frozen for putting on a webtv a Journalist that lived in DonBass during 2014-2018 period speking about local people killed by Ucranians.The decision came from Massimiliano Coccia, husband of Pina Picierno ( member of the European Parliament), this append also to Frédéric Baldan and a lot of other people every day, so I'dont wonder it its true.
- epistasis 8mo agoWas it for what you say, or was it for transactions with sanctioned individuals in Russia that paid for the propaganda?
- rcruzeiro 8mo agoVisione TV is a mouthpiece of the Russian propaganda machine. The account being frozen was most likely the bank doing its due diligence due to the sanctions on Russia.
- rihegher 8mo agoOr it could be because this guy was part of the DGSI before getting caught for selling informations on the darknet recently https://france3-regions.franceinfo.fr/provence-alpes-cote-d-azur/bouches-du-rhone/marseille/affaire-haurus-peine-alourdie-en-appel-pour-cet-ex-agent-de-la-dgsi-qui-vendait-des-informations-aux-narcotrafiquants-sur-le-darknet-3256243.html https://france3-regions.franceinfo.fr/provence-alpes-cote-d-...
- Wilya 8mo agoI'd like to point out that Qonto is a business bank. Not open to consumers. They also have a list of prohibited activities: (https://legal.qonto.com/en#template-uoa8xux5p https://legal.qonto.com/en#template-uoa8xux5p) which, funnily enough, include "Hunting, trapping and related service activities", "mining nonrenewable natural re-sources" and "accessibility diagnosis" (??). Consumer protection laws obviously don't apply to businesses, and banks close business accounts all the time for not following the terms of services. That sounds like a MUCH more probably cause than "I said mean things about Palantir".
- o999 8mo agoThanks to all the "I don't care because I have nothing to hide." guys.
- OrangeMusic 8mo agoI don't care because this guy's imagining (or lying about) the reason why his account was closed is obviously fake.
- lucyjojo 8mo agohow is it obviously false? it seems simply unproven, but plausible to me.
- deleted 8mo ago[deleted]
- marcusverus 8mo agoThis is an exceedingly common way to lie. https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_hoc_fallacy https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_hoc_fallacy
- somalihoaxes 8mo ago[flagged]