PayPal, others, cut ties with WikiLeaks

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NEW YORK, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Finance management Web site PayPal said it had cut all of its ties to WikiLeaks after its release of U.S. diplomatic cables this week.

WikiLeaks made hundreds of thousands of diplomatic communiques public, which violated PayPal's Acceptable Use Policy prohibiting "illegal activity," PayPal said, The New York Times reported Saturday.

WikiLeaks responded in a Twitter message saying PayPal had bowed to "U.S. government pressure."

A link that allowed PayPal members to donate money to WikiLeaks has been disabled.

Internet company Amazon and the domain name company EasyDNS.Net also severed ties to WikiLeaks, but contributions to WikiLeaks can still be made through Datacell, a Web site that says it is under "Swiss/Icelandic control," the Times said.

Theage.com reported WikiLeaks was struggling to survive the fallout from the releases. Its American service provider closed the Web site down, forcing the company to set up business in Sweden.

Facing potentially several government lawsuits, Swedish authorities had issued an international arrest warrant for its founder, Julian Assange, on sexual assault charges, the online news service said.