How do you convince Nigerians to Read? Put it in the “Terms and Conditions” – The Paystack misogyny Saga Explained in Full

Yesterday, a global poorly kept secret was made evident for all to see with Paystack, a Nigerian fintech startup, top of the trend section on Twitter, after calls by some users to boycott the company.

Though the actual happenings weren’t really documented but reports reaching Naijatechguy states that it all went haywire when the popular payment platform revoked a payment link for a certain lady’s birthday party, and did I say hell was let loose? Yes, it did.

Apparently, in a nutshell I’m just here to let you know Paystack is now in the business of turning down certain individuals from using its payment service, maybe, because it has got a lot of request on its table.

Now, you’d be forgiven if you haven’t already gotten a sneek peek into the gist right now, perhaps you were hiding under a rock to avoid getting infected with the death sentence that is the Coronavirus pandemic.

We’re only joking here, you get right? Did you take that serious!!! Damn

Here’s how the whole plot between Paystack and the lady who had her payment link revoked played out on Twitter.

Paystack can’t be this Bahd. Are they?

On August 17, @obidi__ , a Twitter user, announced that she was organising a private birthday party in Abuja, Nigeria, on August 22: which translates to this Saturday. She also mentioned it was going to be a paid one.

However, to her utter surprise she woke up the next day to see Paystack, after tweeting she intended using the payment platform as her go-to for the party has for some reason blocked her birthday party because she was quoted as ‘selling body parts’.

Here’s the graphic for the birthday party in question:

What ensured was a normal for the Nigerian Twitter section as she called out fanboys who ramped up the revoke against the tech company for their ‘partial’ deeds.

Deadass read their FAQ and I ever did was post a birthday party and they are blocking me for selling body parts? The misogyny in the business is stupid and thank goodness I develop too- I even got into Decagon and declined. Y’all fuck yourself for real pic.twitter.com/8yixurMj4G

— Angela Davis because (@obidi___) August 18, 2020

A closer look however, has revealed that Paystack had disabled her account, but for another reason altogether. She didn’t adhere to a different part of the company’s Acceptable Use Policy.

According to the company’s email to her, Jacob Christian, a User Ops at Paystack, opined that while reviewing @obidi__’s business on the platform, they realised that it involved sexual activities; in this case, an orgy.

“We would like to draw your attention to Section 2 of Paystack’s Acceptable Use Policy ( https://paystack.com/terms ), which states that Paystack may not be used in connection with any product, service, transaction or activity that relates to the sale and/or purchase of certain sexually oriented materials or services,” an excerpt from the email read.

If at this stage you’re still wondering what in the world an orgy is, a quick Wikipedia definition reiterates: “An orgy as a sex party consisting of at least five members where guests freely engage in open and unrestrained sexual activity or group sex.” In other words, an orgy is part of Paystack’s “certain sexually-oriented services”.

Now, we could all turn back to point accusing fingers at this lady but her crime is simply one each and every internet user have fallen for at least once in a lifetime.

WHEN LAST DID YOU READ A TERM’S AND CONDITIONS PAGE WHEN ACCESSING A SERVICE OR USING A PRODUCT?

It is very important to read a company’s terms and conditions and it is even scary and unhealthy to use any product you don’t find its scriptly documented acceptable use policy in it’s ranks.

In essence, she was trying to use Paystack in connection with one of the many business categories the company said it wasn’t going to permit in its Terms and Conditions. And as stated in its “ Actions by Paystack” segment, the company suspended her use of Paystack’s Services.

While it is a known fact that most terms and conditions are incredibly long and hard to read, situations like this Paystack-orgy saga subtly reminds us of their importance.

Mark Amaza, a Twitter user was also in support of the action taken by Paystack, writing that: “Paystack’s refusal to allow payment for sex work/orgies using its platform is more than just about the law. It is also about brand & financial risks it is willing to bear”.

I mean some other companies have even way scarier For policies. Stripes is one which doesn’t even allow payments for flights.

There have been previous collective cases of people complaining about social networks using their data for advertising purposes as can be seen with the TikTok security flaw. But over time, this same users have come to realise that they opted in for such maybe on Twitter trends or after they are done using the product.

Imperatively, it is jail-worthy putting the lives of users and individuals at risk but equally, you accepting these terms and conditions whenever downloading an app, accessing a service, registering on a website, is legally binding. It is for this reason you need to spend some time reading them before going forward or checking out that popular hook-up page.