Protect Digital Freedom: Pass the Fair Access to Banking Act and Enforce Antitrust Protections (H.R. 987 / S. 401)

Petition Summary:
We urge the U.S. Congress to immediately pass H.R. 987 and S. 401, the Fair Access to Banking Act, and to expand these bills to include mandatory oversight, legal recourse, and antitrust enforcement.

Financial gatekeepers like Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal are acting as modern monopolies—deciding who gets to do business, who gets paid, and who gets silenced. That’s not free enterprise. That’s Gilded Age-style suppression—and it’s time the law stopped it.

Petition Demands:

We, the undersigned citizens, creators, businesses, and consumers, call upon the U.S. Congress to pass and strengthen H.R. 987 / S. 401 — and restore equal access to lawful financial services in the United States.

Currently, banks, payment processors, and card networks routinely deny or revoke services based on opaque “reputational” risks or ideological conflicts, not fraud or legality. Lawful businesses, nonprofits, and individuals have been frozen out, demonetized, or deplatformed — with no warning, no accountability, and no legal recourse.

"No unelected executive board should have the power to decide what Americans can buy, sell, or support."

What H.R. 987 / S. 401 Do:
Require financial institutions to use objective, risk-based standards when evaluating service denials.
Prohibit ideological or reputational bans when no fraud or criminal risk exists.
Penalize violators with loss of Federal Reserve access, insurance, or operating rights.
But we ask Congress to go further — and ensure these protections have teeth.

Our Expanded Demands:

1. Mandatory Pre-Denial Reporting
   Before any financial institution (bank, card processor, payment network) may terminate or deny service:

   They must file a Pre-Notice of Denial Report with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
   The report must document quantifiable risk-based justification, not subjective reputational arguments.
   Affected users must receive advance notice and right to appeal.

2. Recognize Small Businesses and even larger ones as Financial Consumers
   A small studio, streamer, author, or vendor is not just a business — they are also a consumer of banking services.

   Enshrine businesses under CFPB protection as consumers when interacting with banks or payment networks.
   Protect creators, merchants, and service users from coercive business-to-business discrimination.

3. Invoke Sherman Antitrust Principles
   The Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) was created to stop monopolies like Rockefeller’s Standard Oil and Carnegie Steel from crushing rivals by controlling the infrastructure of the market (railroads, refineries, shipping).
   
   "Today’s payment processors do the same:
   Denying access to digital financial infrastructure is the modern equivalent of cutting a rival’s rail line."
   
   

   We demand:

   That financial service blacklisting be recognized as market manipulation under antitrust law
   
   That ideological or competitive denial of access be treated as a violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act (abuse of market dominance)

4.  

   Ensure Penalties Are Equal or Greater Than the Harm
   Any institution found guilty of wrongful denial of service should face:

   *Penalties equal to at least the economic harm caused
   
   *Optional treble damages in cases of repeated or systemic abuse
   
   This ensures it’s not profitable to discriminate or coerce behind closed doors.

   Why This Matters
   This law affects more than creators and gamers. It affects:

   🎨 Artists, authors, developers
   🛍️ E-commerce vendors
   🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Nonprofits and advocacy groups
   🤖 Innovators in crypto, security, and AI
   🎮 Game modders and studios targeted by card networks
   Every one of them is at risk when private corporations become ideological judges of who is “allowed” to operate — with no law backing their decisions.

Petition Authors:
The Veilwalker Streamers
Led by: Scathanna Nightbound

Standing for creators, merchants, and digital citizens nationwide.

Sign to Protect:
Your right to access lawful financial services
Your right to support what matters to you
A free market free from monopolistic control