Senate Could Greenlight Elon Musk’s Payments Ploy

On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate is scheduled to vote on a bill to revoke the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s final rule to supervise digital payment apps like Venmo, Apple Pay and Google Wallet the same way the agency monitors companies that issue traditional credit cards and bank accounts. The vote is the latest in a damning and telling chain of events benefiting Elon Musk:

Nov. 21, 2024: The CFPB finalizes a rule enabling the agency to proactively supervise digital payment apps
Nov. 27, 2024: Musk tweets “Delete CFPB”
Jan. 28, 2025: X CEO announces that X Money will debut with a partnership with Visa
Feb. 7, 2025: Musk’s DOGE staffers enter the CFPB and kick off an effort to shut it down
March 5, 2025: The Senate is set to vote on legislation to revoke the CFPB’s digital payments rule

Every step of the way, Musk has gotten closer to launching X Money without a watchdog to ensure that the platform adheres to federal rules mandating data security standards, disputes for fraudulent payments, consumer protections against debanking and more. Demand Progress has been a strong supporter of the CFPB’s efforts to supervise digital payment platforms.

The following is a statement from Emily Peterson-Cassin, corporate power director at Demand Progress:

“Elon Musk wants to cripple consumer protections for digital payment apps and the U.S. Senate is doing his bidding. Not only does Musk want X, a platform swarming with bots and crypto scams, to be able to reach into your bank account, he also wants to defang and ‘delete’ the agency responsible for ensuring that X Money follows federal standards for data security and fradulent payment disputes. Senators must side with American consumers, and not online scammers, by voting ‘NO’ on this dangerous bill.”

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.

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