GoFundMe has become notorious with canceling fundraisers perceived right-of-center people accused and trying to raise funds defend themselves. It happened to former U. Central Florida Professor Charles Negy who was trying to raise funds to fight the university action against him.
It happened to Kyle Rittenhouse.
Now GoFundMe will allow Rittenhouse to raise funds. Now that he’s been acquitted.
GoFundMe would not allow “replies” to its tweet, so a lot of people Quote Tweeted their responses. It was a hell of a ratio:
Here’s an excerpt from the statement (emphasis added):
GoFundMe’s Terms of Service prohibit raising money for the legal defense of an alleged violent crime. In light of the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, we want to clarify when and why we removed certain fundraisers in the past.Once charges for a violent crime were brought against Kyle Rittenhouse in 2020, GoFundMe removed fundraisers that were started for the defendant’s legal defense. We did this as part of our regular monitoring efforts; in addition to those fundraisers, our Trust & Safety team removed hundreds of other fundraisers between August and December 2020 — unrelated to Rittenhouse — that we determined were in violation of this long-standing policy.If someone is acquitted of those charges, as Rittenhouse was today, a fundraiser started subsequently for their legal defense and other expenses would not violate this policy. A fundraiser to pay lawyers, cover legal expenses or to help with ongoing living expenses for a person acquitted of those charges could remain active as long as we determine it is not in violation of any of our other terms and, for example, the purpose is clearly stated and the correct beneficiary is added to the fundraiser.
Here’s a small sample of the several thousand and growing reactions:
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