Online fundraising platform GoFundMe has announced that the fundraiser for Canada’s trucker convoy has now been ‘removed’ from the platform over violation of ‘terms of service’. The platform is now withholding the over 9 million dollars donated to the protesting truckers in Canada.
The online fundraising platform had earlier paused the fundraiser and announced that they would be reviewing the nearly $10 million funds raised by Canada’s truckers, who are now protesting against the vaccine mandates and other pandemic restrictions imposed by the Canadian government.
At the request of Trudeau, @GoFundMe has just stolen $9,000,000 from the truckers. Rather than automatically refunding it to the donors, they say they’re going to give it to groups of their own choosing. What a windfall for Black Lives Matter, Greenpeace and Planned Parenthood! pic.twitter.com/prEwLnypfe
— Ezra Levant 🍁 (@ezralevant) February 4, 2022
Earlier, the online funding platform had stated it has suspended the funding and was reviewing the campaign after truckers had raised nearly $10 million in support of the protest.
In a statement posted to the website, GoFundMe said it “supports peaceful protests, and we believe that was the intention of the Freedom Convoy 2022 fundraiser when it was first created.
“We now have evidence from law enforcement that the previously peaceful demonstration has become an occupation, with police reports of violence and other unlawful activity,” the statement read.
GoFundMe obeys Canada govt and police orders
Ottawa mayor Jim Watson has stated that the government and the police had asked GoFundMe to stop the campaign and prevent the truckers from receiving the money raised for them.
In light of the unlawful behaviour that has transpired in the last few days, they have come to the right decision in support of our city and our residents.
— Jim Watson (@JimWatsonOttawa) February 4, 2022
These protesters have been holding our city hostage for a week now, and I'm hopeful that limiting their access to … 2/3
The online fundraising platform added that to ensure GoFundMe remains a trusted platform, they work with local authorities to ensure they have a detailed, factual understanding of events taking place on the ground.
“Following a review of relevant facts and multiple discussions with local law enforcement and city officials, this fundraiser is now in violation of our Terms of Service (Term 8, which prohibits the promotion of violence and harassment) and has been removed from the platform,” the statement read.
The fundraiser, which lists Tamara Lich as an organiser and BJ Dichter as a “team member”, has been removed after raising $10,125,100. It was created to support the truckers that have travelled across Canada to Ottawa to participate in a protest against Covid-19 restrictions.
In fact, GoFundMe had released $1 million earlier after protests showed the plans that the money would be used to cover the cost of fuel for participants peacefully protesting.
GoFundMe said that they would work with organisers to send all remaining funds to “credible and established charities” chosen by the Freedom Convoy 2022 organisers and verified by GoFundMe. The fundraising platform has also put out a notice asking donors to submit a request for a full refund until February 19, 2022.
The protests began on January 29 in the nation’s capital, which later engulfed major cities across the country. The protests took a violent form after some of the protestors were caught urinating on the National War Memorial, one even danced on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The truckers have now driven their truck all the way to Parliament Hill to protest against the vaccine mandates.
Elon Musk calls GoFundMe ‘professional thieves’
GoFundMe’s act is inviting condemnation and widespread outrage. Billionaire Elon Musk has called them ‘professional thieves’ in a tweet.
It’s not my money pic.twitter.com/IKRxhGo8wS
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 5, 2022
The ‘liberal’ government in Canada has been vocally condemning the truckers’ protests and has been vilifying it. PM Trudeau has called the truckers ‘disgusting’. The ruling politicians have termed the truckers protest as ‘ the occupation of Ottawa’.
On February 4, the Public Safety Committee had voted to bring Go FundMe to testify about the fundraising for the truckers on their platform. The Removal of the fundraiser has come on the next day.
Facebook removes page promoting the Freedom Convoy that rejects vaccine mandates in USA
On Wednesday, Facebook has removed a page “Convoy to DC” of truck drivers opposing vaccine rules in the USA. The truckers have slammed this step of Facebook as censorship at its finest. The truck drivers’ “Freedom Convoy” was planned from California to Washington DC. This was being done after being inspired by the Canadian truckers who had recently taken their convoy opposing the vaccine mandates.
The group of protesting truckers had made a Facebook page named “Convoy to DC 2022”. Facebook has removed this page on Wednesday for violating policies around QAnon. In October 2020, Facebook had labelled QAnon a “violence-inducing conspiracy network” and announced group pages and admins tied to QAnon will be removed.
The Facebook account of Jeremy Johnson, who had created this page, has also been removed. He has now contacted a lawyer to figure out his next move. Reacting to this, Johnson said, “They like to silence people that speak the truth.”
