The crowdfunding website known as GoFundMe may be in legal trouble after they decided to pull the plug on the Freedom Convoy’s donation page. Truckers are in Canada protesting against lockdowns and mandates that are supposedly in place to mitigate any harm done by the virus. Most of the protest is happening in the downtown area of Canada’s capital, Ottowa. Truckers have been honking their horns as well as parking in certain areas of the city as part of the protest. Many of them have vowed to stay until the mandates are lifted.
The media and liberal Governments in Canada and the US have attacked the Freedom Convoy as some sort of violent thing. The Mayor of Ottowa referred to honking noises coming from the truckers as “tantamount to psychological warfare”. These reasons (and more) are what GoFundMe cited when they reacted. There are just a few problems with this explanation. First of all, there has been no violence during the Freedom Convoy. The only issue has been the honking noises and one complaint of a food kitchen being asked to give the truckers free food (which is usually their job). The problem here is that the Freedom Convoy has been painted as some sort of political uprising. It is not.
GoFundMe cancelled the Freedom Convoy page after it received around $10 million in donations. The logical next step here would have been to automatically issue refunds to everyone who donated. GoFundMe decided to have everyone fill out a form to request their money back. If a person did not fill out the form (which many people probably wouldn’t) then the money would automatically go to a charity of the Freedom Convoy’s choosing. There are at least two problems with this. First, the charity would have to be GoFundMe approved since the Freedom Convoy itself was not approved. Second, if a person gives money for one particular purpose and that money is then used for something else, that is called fraud. West Virginia’s attorney general and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis both spoke out about this. This caused GoFundMe to simply issue automatic refunds to everyone who donated. Which should have happened from the beginning.
SOURCES:
Ottawa city council asks for help to end ‘freedom convoy’
GoFundMe slams brakes on Freedom Convoy fundraiser – FreightWaves
GoFundMe on Twitter: “In a community with no police, this farmer is feeding people & bringing them closer together. Learn how you can support Marcus’ mission within the CHOP: https://t.co/Ezo2kqi7ht” / Twitter
GoFundMe shuts down a campaign for the anti-vax Freedom Convoy in Canada – Life
The violent end of CHOP, formerly known as CHAZ, explained – Vox
Two teenagers shot in Seattle’s Chop autonomous zone – BBC News
Horace Anderson Sues Over Lorenzo Anderson’s CHOP Zone Death
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