GoFundMe has decided to go fund them after all.
In this case, ‘them’ are the donors who generously gave to Canadian truckers who have spent a week in Ottawa protesting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s draconian COVID-19 measures.
As The Free Press recently reported, donors had shoveled $10.1 million to the truckers through the crowdfunding site since their protest launched. The drivers petitioned people for money to primarily pay for fuel, and then lodging and food, if necessary.
B.J. Dichter, an organizer of the Freedom Convoy, as the protest is called, had publicly praised GoFundMe for its willingness to work with the truckers. The company also had distributed $1 million to the recipients.
But on Thursday, GoFundMe announced a freeze, saying the money-raising effort was “under review to ensure it complies with our terms of service and applicable laws and regulations.”
Perhaps not surprisingly, GoFundMe, known for catering to left-wing politics, changed its mind.
The company cited “police reports of violence and unlawful activity” by those involved in the protest as a reason to throttle the funding – even though the protest has been peaceful.
As The Free Press posted on Friday, `said it would “work with organizers to send all remaining funds to credible and established charities chosen by the Freedom Convoy 2022 organizers and verified by GoFundMe.”
But on Saturday, Breitbart News reported that GoFundMe had thawed the freeze – although it seemed the truckers in the Great White North would still be left in the cold.
Breitbert noted that after “an intense backlash against the company” for the plan to simply give their money to some other cause they had no intention of backing, GoFundMe said the donors supporting the Freedom Convoy would see their contributions “automatically” refunded.
“To simplify the process for our users, we will be refunding all donations to the Freedom Convoy 2022 fundraiser. This refund will happen automatically—you do not need to submit a request. Donors can expect to see refunds within 7-10 business days,” the company said in a tweet.
Breitbart reported that prior to this decision, GoFundMe had given Freedom Convoy donors until Feb. 19 to request a refund.
Doing that, instead of giving the money to its original intended recipients, was the “latest in a long line of politically biased decisions by the platform which has driven many conservative activists to alternative platforms, such as the Christian-owned competitor GiveSendGo,” Breitbart added.
Breitbart pointed out that GoFundMe has routinely allowed fundraisers for Black Lives Matter, but its “long history of bias” has been demonstrated by blocking revenue-raising attempts by supporters of Kyle Rittenhouse, a Texas nurse seeking to stop an employee COVID-19 vaccine mandate, a Republican “election integrity” project that started after the 2020 election, and commentator Candace Owens.
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