Big Tech controls every single digital aspect of our lives. Whether you agree with their politics or not, you’re beholden to their rules. This includes fundraising services such as GoFundMe, who went the extra mile to deplatform people for being on the opposite side of the sociopolitical spectrum as them.
One of their more heinous acts involved taking down a GoFundMe page for an Irish stabbing victim who was viciously attacked and hospitalized in Carrigaline, Cork County.
The event was picked up by local Irish news outlets, who reported that the 17-year-old from Carrigaline was robbed of his belongings by another 17-year-old.
In response to the news, Irish YouTuber Gearóid Murphy streamed a fundraiser for the victim on the morning of June 7th, 2020, and did a follow-up video later in the day.
Later on that day the GoFundMe fundraiser was taken down by GoFundMe, which Murphy tweeted out about shortly after it happened.
GofundMe has taken down our fundraiser. Over €6000 raised for a stabbing victim and his family, down the toilet. I’m gutted. Fairly sure I know who is responsible. Working on getting it back.
— Gearóid Murphy (@gearoidmurphy_) June 7, 2020
So why was the fundraiser taken down? Well, radio host PJ Coogan from 96FM claimed that Murphy’s GoFundMe for the 17-year-old stabbing victim was money being raised as a front for a “far-right group”, which led to GoFundMe to deplatforming the fundraiser.
But that wasn’t the only deplatforming that GoFundMe was involved in, they also took down Candace Owens’ GoFundMe for the Parkside Café in Birmingham, Alabama, which couldn’t operate during normal business hours due to the curfews and the riots taking place.
According to the DailyWire, Owens managed to help raise $205,000 before GoFundMe shut down the fundraiser due to a video that Owens published criticizing George Floyd and the martyrdom that the media has created for the late criminal.
In a statement to the DailyWire, GoFundMe explained that it was because of Owens’ personal thoughts that they cancelled the fundraiser for the Parkside Café, which had sustained damage during the riots.
The statement reads…
“GoFundMe has suspended the account associated with Candace Owens and the GoFundMe campaign has been removed because of a repeated pattern of inflammatory statements that spread hate, discrimination, intolerance and falsehoods against the black community at a time of profound national crisis. These actions violate our terms of service. Furthermore, the Parkside Cafe has clearly condemned the comments that initially led to this campaign.”
Originally a former employee of Parkside leaked a private message from one of the owners of the cafe who called Floyd a “thug” and that the mobs rallying up around him were “honoring a thug”.
The owners later condemned the employee for leaking the message and apologized for the things they said about Floyd.
Nevertheless, GoFundMe is basically proving that only certain kinds of opinions can be allowed for those who want to raise money for others, and that all it takes to get shut down is someone claiming that you have ties to the “Alt-Right”.
(Thanks for the news tip durka durka and Ian Miles Cheong)
