The Swedish Internet service provider Bahnhof AB and the payment website Flattr said they will keep WikiLeaks as a client after companies including Amazon.com Inc. and PayPal Inc. cut off the whistle-blower site.
Flattr, which allows users to donate a monthly sum and divide it among Internet content providers by clicking Flattr buttons, is open to anyone who wants to use it, Jonas Birgersson, who heads the Malmoe, Sweden, company's advisory board, said Friday. WikiLeaks added the button from its website, he said.
The U.S. has condemned the website after it published thousands of classified State Department documents. PayPal, the payment processor owned by eBay Inc., cut access to the WikiLeaks website on Dec. 4 citing violation of the acceptable use policy. MasterCard Inc. and Visa Europe also cut off the site.
"We treat WikiLeaks just like any other customer," said Anna Mossberg, Bahnhof's chief executive. "Like any other Swedish ISP, the two things that would cause us to drop a client would be if they stop paying invoices or if the Swedish police would contact us and say that the customer is doing something illegal according to Swedish law."
Flattr and Bahnhof haven't been contacted or pressured to drop WikiLeaks as a client or seen any signs of attacks against operations, Birgersson and Mossberg said.
