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Facebook, Visa choose sides on Wikileaks

Facebook says that at this point it will not take down a Wikileaks page on its site. The fan page has nearly a million followers/friends/likers/whatever and Facebook says, "The WikiLeaks Facebook Page does not violate our content standards nor have we encountered any material posted on the page that violates our policies." It's a carefully worded statement that leaves open the possibility for encountering something that does violate those policies, of course. But Facebook tends to be pretty open about groups, refusing to take down a Holocaust denier group, for instance, citing free speech.

Meanwhile, Visa is suspending payments made to Wikileaks after Julian Assange was arrested in England on sexual assault charges.

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John Moe is the host of Marketplace Tech Report, where he provides an insightful overview of the latest tech news.
Jan's picture
Jan - Dec 8, 2010

I am shocked that private companies like VISA, Mastercard, Paypal and Amazon decides to decide how I can use my money.
In a liberal, globalized, market based world this is poison to our way of living.
I strongly protest, and I will have to look for new providers of my money transactions.

Whittier's picture
Whittier - Dec 8, 2010

So much for the American axiom of "Innocent until proven guilty".

VISA's decision sounds like it could violate the "Interstate commerce" clause.