Paypal and ADL partner to fight extremism and protect marginalized communities

By Pavithra R

Paypal Holdings in partnership with ADL (the Anti-Defamation League), announced a new initiative to fight extremism and hate through the financial industry and across at-risk communities. PayPal through its effort is acting to combat racism, hate and extremism across its platforms and the industry.

Under the collaboration, PayPal and ADL have launched a research effort to address the urgent need to understand how extremist and hate movements throughout the U.S. are attempting to leverage financial platforms to fund criminal activity. The intelligence gathered through the research initiative will be shared broadly across the financial industry and with policymakers and law enforcement.

“By identifying partners across sectors with common goals and complementary resources, we can make an even greater impact than any of us could do on our own. We are excited to partner with the ADL, other non-profits and law enforcement in our fight against hate in all its forms,” said Aaron Karczmer, Chief Risk Officer and EVP, Risk and Platforms, PayPal.

The initiative with PayPal will be led through ADL’s Center on Extremism, a leading authority on extremism, terrorism and hate. PayPal and ADL will focus on uncovering and disrupting the financial pipelines that support extremist and hate movements. In addition to extremist and anti-government organizations, the initiative will also focus on actors and networks spreading and profiting from all forms of hate and bigotry against any community.

“All of us, including in the private sector, have a critical role to play in fighting the spread of extremism and hate. With this new initiative, we’re setting a new standard for companies to bring their expertise to critical social issues. We have a unique opportunity to further understand how hate spreads and develop key insights that will inform the efforts of the financial industry, law enforcement, and our communities in mitigating extremist threats,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO, ADL.

Core to the PayPal and ADL initiative is the establishment and expansion of a coalition with other civil rights partner organizations, such as the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), to protect marginalized communities against extremism. PayPal and ADL will work with these organizations to share trends in extremism and hate with marginalized and vulnerable communities with the goal of empowering and safeguarding those communities which are frequent targets of hate groups and extremist acts.

The collaboration is the most recent example of PayPal extending the reach of its financial crimes capabilities through multi-sector collaborations to address critical societal and community issues.