The Canary, an independent media organisation based in the UK, said on Tuesday that it has been debanked by Lloyds Bank.
In a statement shared on its website and across social media, it said that the British banking giant was “withholding a substantial amount of our money” and had “not explained why it has taken this action [d]espite multiple communications from us”.
“The Canary is now in a financially precarious situation,” it added.
In a statement to Middle East Eye, CEO Steve Topple said that the outlet has been unable to pay staff or contractors.
“We have a large team, and all of them are now extremely distressed and in limbo. Many of them are marginalised people, and it has hit them very hard.”
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Established in 2015, the small left-wing news outlet announced in May that it was launching a print newspaper to offer an alternative to “corporate media”, according to Topple.
While the outlet does not operate behind a paywall, it receives its funds mostly through direct contributions made by readers.
‘Massive implications for free speech’
Topple continued: “It is an outrage that the Canary has been unceremoniously dropped into financial instability with no notice or explanation from Lloyds.
“Our situation is a damning indictment of the treatment of independent media in this country – whereby you can be potentially ruined without recourse by banking giants like Lloyds.”
Lloyds has received backlash across social media platforms, as users have called for the banking group to disclose the reasoning behind the move, expressing concerns over growing restrictions on journalistic freedoms in the UK.
MEE eached out to Lloyds Bank for comment, but did not receive a reply by the time of publication.
Ahmed Alnaouq, Palestinian human rights activist and co-founder of We Are Not Numbers, said it sets “a very dangerous precedent”, calling for the Canary’s work to be “protected and supported at any cost”.
Author and contributing editor of Novara Media Ash Sarkour criticised it as a “worrying development”, pointing out that it took place “in a wider context of debanking for political reasons, against both the right & the left”, in reference to politician Nigel Farage having one of his accounts with prestigious bank Coutts closed in 2023.
Journalist and author Jonathan Cook highlighted the Canary’s existing financial difficulties, which arose after a targeted attack on the organisation by Labour Together in the wake of the 2017 general election, costing it significant advertising revenue.
Several users on X complained directly to Lloyd’s, with others sharing customer helpline contact information to increase the pressure on the banking group to respond.
Others called for a boycott of Lloyds, while some encouraged readers to offer financial support to the Canary to ensure staff can be paid.
Several users on TikTok commented across videos and posts on the subject, saying that they will be closing their accounts.
Maddison Wheeldon, a journalist for the Canary, wrote: “Please share and support us, we need independent media now more than ever before”.
Users also took to Instagram to express their concerns, with Lloyds’ latest post being flooded with comments from people demanding answers.
An investigation by the Telegraph in January revealed that nearly half a million accounts were debanked last year, a more than tenfold increase on the number of accounts closed in 2016-17.
The Guardian published a report earlier this year detailing how Muslims in the UK have been particularly targeted by the normalisation of debanking, describing the pressure faced by banks to monitor potential “terrorist” financial activity, which the report concluded caused them to act in haste to block transactions and close accounts of innocent people and charities, often without the chance to appeal.
Generally criticised on both sides of the political spectrum, legislative efforts have been made by successive governments to “stamp out” debanking in the UK.
New regulations that will affect customers who open an account after 28 April this year mean that banks must give at least 90 days’ notice before closing an account, whilst providing a clear reason. However, an exception is made if the financial institution suspects criminal activity.
