PayPal controversies
Controversies tied to this brand in public sources. A listing is not a finding of fault.
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2025
Honey affiliate-commission litigation
Plaintiffs, including content creators and affiliate marketers, alleged that PayPal Honey replaced affiliate identifiers or otherwise captured commissions associated with purchases influenced by other publishers. Courts allowed amended claims to proceed at stages of the litigation, but the allegations had not become a final adjudication of liability.
2020
FIU fines PayPal for alleged anti-money-laundering violations
Fine or penalty
India's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) held PayPal guilty of violations under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and imposed a Rs 96 lakh fine, including over its failure to register as a reporting entity. The order directs PayPal to pay the fine and register with the FIU.
India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) held PayPal guilty of violations under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and imposed a Rs 96 lakh fine, including over its failure to register as a reporting entity. The order directs PayPal to pay the fine and register with the FIU.
Company response
Clarification — PayPal
PayPal spokesperson told PTI that it "is fully committed to regulatory compliance." "We take our obligations seriously across 200 markets where our payments platform is present. We are carefully reviewing the matter and we cannot comment further at this point," he said.
Source excerpt
The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in a scathing 27-page order issued on December 17 held the company guilty on three broad counts, the fundamental being its failure to register itself as a "reporting entity" with the federal agency as mandated under the PMLA.
"...I, in exercise of powers conferred upon me under section 13(2)(d) of the PMLA, 2002 impose a total fine of Rs 96 lakh only on PayPal Payments Private Limited which will be commensurate with the violations committed by it," the order issued by FIU Director Pankaj Kumar Mishra said.
2019
CMA fines PayPal over breach of iZettle acquisition order
Fine or penalty
The UK Competition and Markets Authority fined PayPal £250,000, stating that the company had breached an enforcement order by cross-promoting iZettle to customers in Europe, including potential customers in the UK. PayPal said it disagreed with the CMA's conclusions and stated that the alleged infractions were not intentional.
The UK's Competition and Markets Authority fined PayPal £250,000, saying it breached an enforcement order by cross-promoting iZettle to customers in Europe, including potential customers in the UK. PayPal said it disagreed with the CMA's conclusions and that the alleged infractions were not intentional.
Company response
Denial — PayPal
While we respectfully disagree with the CMA's conclusions
Remediation — PayPal
they were remediated as soon as the CMA raised concerns
Source excerpt
While we respectfully disagree with the CMA's conclusions, we understand the importance of Initial Enforcement Orders (IEOs) in the UK's merger control regime and treated compliance with the IEO with the utmost importance throughout the merger review.
On Tuesday, the CMA said PayPal had breached the order and cross-promoted the iZettle business to customers in Europe, including in the UK.
The UK's competition regulator has just slapped PayPal with a £250,000 ($311,000) fine over its $2.2 billion acquisition of payments firm iZettle.
2019
PayPal and Lenmo settle trademark dispute
Settlement
PayPal and Lenmo reached a settlement agreement in a trademark dispute. PayPal had sued Lenmo in July 2019 over the name’s alleged similarity to Venmo.
Source excerpt
此前，PayPal因Lenmo“明显模仿”其旗下支付平台Venmo的名称于2019年7月对该平台提起诉讼。
2019年10月17日，据WIPR报道，全球付款服务公司PayPal已与个人对个人借款平台Lenmo达成商标纠纷和解协议。
2019
Australian AML investigation into PayPal
Investigation
Australia’s financial intelligence agency appointed an external auditor to examine whether PayPal complied with local anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws. The agency was awaiting the audit report and would decide afterward whether to take legal action; sources reported that potentially up to 300 million transactions may have breached the laws.
Source excerpt
去年9月，该中心强行为PayPal指派了一名外部审计员，对该公司是否遵守当地反洗钱法和反恐金融法进行详细调查。
消息人士透露，PayPal涉嫌违反反洗钱法的交易可能高达3亿宗。
2018
Venmo privacy and disclosure settlement
The Federal Trade Commission alleged that Venmo failed to clearly disclose information about transfer availability and privacy settings and violated requirements related to financial privacy. The matter concluded with an FTC order.
2015
PayPal Credit consumer-protection settlement
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau alleged that PayPal’s Bill Me Later, later rebranded PayPal Credit, used problematic enrollment and billing practices. The company agreed to a $25 million penalty to resolve the complaint.
2011
WikiLeaks payment suspension and Anonymous attacks
PayPal stopped processing donations to WikiLeaks, after which the company was targeted by distributed denial-of-service attacks associated with Anonymous. Criminal charges were later brought against alleged participants, with thirteen defendants pleading guilty in 2013.