To add to this, there is a false perception of paypal's actions due to excessive visibility of one half of the equation. Paypal has to deal with fraud, phishing, money laundering, international organized crime, etc. Overwhelmingly every aspect of that is hidden from the public. No fraudster is going to make a post on reddit of how paypal shut them down. And paypal isn't going to publicize it because of legal issues. So all we have are these little glimpses of people who have no experience with merchant accounts being affected by these anti-fraud policies and everyone sympathizes because somehow it's become normal to assume that worldwide digital money transfers should be hassle-free and inexpensive.

Paypal isn't perfect, but the biggest reason why so many people are upset with it is because there isn't a suitable substitute.