Transaction Denied: Big Finance's Power to Punish Speech

by Rainey Reitman

Exposes how companies like Visa, Chase, PayPal, Bank of America, and Mastercard use their power to silence dissenting voices and hurt democracy through the practice of financial censorship

Civil liberties activist Rainey Reitman introduces listeners to the concept of “financial censorship”—a form of privatized censorship where banks and payment intermediaries act as censors in ways the government couldn’t do directly without violating the First Amendment.

Reitman examines financial companies like Visa, Chase, and PayPal, Bank of America, and Mastercard and the role they have played in policing speech as well as the laws and corporate policies that have enabled this form of censorship.

Weaving together over a decade of research with interviews and narratives from those personally impacted by financial censorship, Reitman reveals how financial exclusion has become a tool to pressure marginalized voices into silence.

From the executive director of a voting rights nonprofit to a teacher of Iranian poetry, to adult content creators, and the cannabis community, Reitman uplifts the stories of those who have been targeted by these powerful institutions.

Insightful and fresh, Transaction Denied exposes this new and growing form of censorship and offers a path forward by advocating for communities affected by financial exclusion and calling for more transparency of our financial systems.

224 pages, Hardcover

Published April 7, 2026

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Through a series of anecdotes and some direct advocacy, Rainey Reitman's 2026 book Transaction Denied uses the stories of people and organizations that have been denied financial services to argue that the financial sector shouldn't have the power to deny service without transparent policies articulating why. Reitman argues that deplatforming by entities like Chase Bank or PayPal has occurred not because of illegal activity but rather constitutionally protected free expression that makes lenders uncomfortable, like political advocacy, drug legalization activism, and online sex work. She shows how this type of censorship often comes from direct intervention and jawboning from federal and state government officials. Her most prominent example is the case of Wikileaks, whose finances were cut off for doing essentially the same thing newspapers like The New York Times and The Washington Post have done many times without repercussions. I do think Reitman either misses or ignores how much deplatforming in the late 10s/early 20s came not from the government but from pressure from progressive left activists, but her book is an instructive defense of free speech and an argument for using cash for transactions when possible.

[Mati · Rating 5 out of 5]

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