450 FSFE supporters affected: Payment provider Nexi cancelled us
Our long-term payment provider Nexi has terminated our contract without prior notice. As a result, our supporters’ recurring credit card and direct debit donations have been halted by them. This affects more than 450 FSFE supporters, whom we have already informed by email.
If you are donating by direct debit, or if you have set up a recurring donation by credit card before 18 November 2025, you are affected by this. If in those cases, you did not receive an email from us, please contact us so that you can continue supporting us for software freedom.
Over the past few months, our former payment provider Nexi S.p.A. (“Nexi”) requested access to private data, which we understood to be specifically the usernames and passwords of our supporters. We have refused this request. All our attempts to clarify Nexi’s request, or to understand how their need for such information was necessary and legal, were met with what we consider to be vague and unsatisfactory explanations relating to a general need for risk analysis.
Subsequently, we found ourselves unable to receive credit card donations through Nexi’s system. In the afternoon of 10 March, we were further informed that our contract had been cancelled a few days prior on 7 March, due to our supposed failure to meet their deadline to fulfil their request. This deadline was not communicated to us beforehand, despite us having been Nexi’s customer for the past 15 years.
More than 450 current FSFE supporters who use automatic renewal with credit card or direct debit have been affected by Nexi’s actions. While we have already prepared a transition to a new payment provider, existing supporter accounts cannot be migrated automatically.
From previous experience, we know there are always some people who might not read our email. If we lose their financial support because of this unforeseen hurdle, this will affect our work for Free Software.
The decisions that Nexi has made are incomprehensible to us. Over the last months, as part of a security audit that Nexi claimed to be conducting, we have provided them with large amounts of the FSFE’s financial documentation, which even included private information of our executive staff. We have answered all of their questions. But we have to draw a line when private companies like Nexi demand access to the sensitive and private data of our supporters.
On our website, all donate pages have been updated already and include our new payment provider. Especially in this difficult situation, we highly appreciate your support for software freedom.