Online payments firm PayPal recently announced that it would no longer process payments from academic writing sites.
The sites connect college students to freelance writers all across the world who offer them writing services. The academic essay-writing industry has been under attack in the recent past. Despite offering a livelihood to some, it has been criticized for giving wealthy students an unfair advantage, all while encouraging laziness.
Announcing the move, PayPal stated that it was to ensure that its platform is not used “to facilitate fraudulent practices in education.” As reported by the BBC, PayPal is working with firms in the industry to have them move their business elsewhere.
While the move will go a long way in strengthening integrity in colleges, it’s yet another demonstration of the amount of power that centralized firms have. PayPal is the primary payments processor in the writing industry, an industry worth billions of dollars globally. The industry employs hundreds of thousands globally, especially in third world countries. In these countries, unemployment is rife, with young college graduates having to turn to academic essay writing to make a living.
One of the leaders in the field is Kenya, perhaps buoyed by the high internet penetration in the country. Thomas Lancaster recently told U.K publication The Daily Mail:
“Kenya is the hotbed where all the writing happens. There is high unemployment and a job working from home is coveted. They have good English and low overheads. There are thousands of people in Kenya whose job is to write essays for cheating students. There are several writers in every apartment block.”
While some of the academic writing helps privileged students cheat, there is a large portion that serves as legitimate tutoring. Students with access to such tutors can take advantage of them to improve themselves. Studies show that one tends to understand easily when they learn from their peers.
It’s in this field that cryptos can impact the most. With academic essay writers and online tutors realizing just how much power they have given to PayPal, they are likely to start searching for alternative payment methods. Cryptos, so long as the sites follow the rules put in place by schools and governments, will be the best alternative, given their speed and low costs.
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