TheQuartering [2/7/2022]
The GoFundMe website has reversed course and decided to automatically refund donations to the truckers organization leading a protest against Canadian pandemic restrictions. But politicians vowed to investigate the website’s original plans for dealing with donations to the truckers.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said Saturday morning that he and the state’s attorney general will investigate GoFundMe after it shut down a fundraiser for the Canadian truckers participating in the so-called “Freedom Convoy.”
West Virginia attorney general also joined in, asking his residents to contact his office to let him know if they had “been victimized by a deceptive act or practice” by GoFundMe.
GoFundMe originally shut down donations because of what it called “law enforcement reports of violence and other unlawful activity. At first, GoFundMe said it would refund anyone who asked and donate the remainder to charities chosen by the Freedom Convoy organizers and verified by the site.
However, the website later scrapped that plan, saying “donor feedback” led it to simplify things and automatically refund all donations.
The fundraiser had hit the C$10 million—around $7.9 million in US dollars – with C$1 million already distributed before the fundraiser was halted.
GoFundMe’s original plan didn’t sit well with DeSantis. He tweeted, “It is a fraud for @gofundme to commandeer $9M in donations sent to support truckers and give it to causes of their own choosing.”