The financial services company Square is changing its name to Block, and Kansas City-based H&R Block is not happy about it.
Until the end of November, Jack Dorsey, as chief executive of both Twitter and Square, oversaw the company’s censorship of Christians and conservatives on the social media platform. Upon Dorsey’s resignation from Twitter, Square changed its name to Block because of its blockchain technology capabilities.
“The goodwill and brand identity that Block has carefully cultivated and nurtured over the last 65 years is under attack by the Silicon Valley fintech company, which announced plans on December 1, 2021, to rebrand as Block Inc,” the company said in a statement. “The newly named Block Inc. competes directly with Block in several areas of financial services, including tax preparation through its recent purchase of Credit Karma Tax, now called Cash App Taxes.
“Through many decades of hard work by its franchisees and associates, and billions of dollars invested in marketing, Block has built a valuable brand that has earned and maintained the trust and loyalty of millions of consumers. Rather than generating its own brand equity, Block Inc. appears to be taking a shortcut to capitalize on the well-known Block moniker. This is a clear violation of Block’s trademark rights, which threatens to confuse consumers and cause harm.”
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When Dorsey resigned from Twitter, he announced that former chief technology officer Parag Agrawal would immediately take his place. One day later, the company revealed that it would begin restricting videos and photos posted without consent of the person depicted. It was seen as an attack on humorous memes of liberals created by conservatives calling out their activities.
Twitter held a progressive bias long before Agrawal assumed the helm. Data from the Federal Elections Commission show that 99 percent of the online political donations made by Twitter employees in 2021 went to Democrats. ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s funding apparatus, received 561 contributions — totaling $14,848.98 — from Twitter affiliates. Meanwhile, only eight donations were made through the Republican Party’s fundraising counterpart.
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice
