“What you did was unacceptable;” Is GoFundMe part of the cancel culture?

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

“GoFundMe reserves the right to modify, suspend or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, the Services (or any part thereof) at any time and for any reason, with or without notice, and without any liability to you or to any third party for any claims, damages, costs, or losses resulting therefrom.”

It was the night of January 19^th when I received a phone call from Grant Browning, CEO of Carib101 Media Group. He was upset, and rightfully so. We had just launched our GoFundMe page, on January 18^th, and in 24 hours, they had taken down the page.

Grant was confused, as was I. We went through the terms of service to see how our message had gone against it. The focus of our campaign was on building our own video platform, a fully independent live news stream bringing interviews from those who had been silenced. We spoke about breaking free from the restrictions and censorship of social media platforms. With support from our community, this would mean more: investigative reporters, news anchors, researchers, and new equipment to assist in on-location coverage.

We had been so excited to announce our expansion project. We knew what needed to be done, but we knew we needed help to accomplish it. The greater goal for the project is to have continuous programming, seven days a week. We want to showcase the best in entertainment, unbiased journalism, informative/investigative reporting, and human rights stories from around the globe.

We knew we had a larger challenge. We were receiving hundreds of messages and emails asking us to repeat our successful event. Despite the cyber attacks that occurred on Saturday, January 2^nd, 2020, The Awakening World Truth Summit was a huge success! We managed to have over ONE MILLION VIEWERS that came to the site to be part of the momentous event.

People are asking to be educated on exactly how they can protect themselves. People are clearly demanding the truth and as a team, we decided it was time to double our efforts to provide what you need.

What had we done wrong? What could we have possibly done that would make GoFundMe take down our funding page?

It was time to do some research. Myself, and one of my researchers went to the GoFundMe Page, and read over every piece of their site. We combed through the pages, looking for anything that could give us a clue as to why. Why reject our page in just 24 hours?

What we found was not very interesting. If anything, it was vague. I did find certain sections that made me suspicious, so I thought I would take a closer look at our write up to see if what we wrote infringed on one of these sections. Let’s be real, it is kind of hard when one of their sections says,

Section 28

“GoFundMe’s terms of service say it can take down funds that are any activity that GoFundMe may deem in its sole discretion to be unacceptable”

 Like I said, vague. When they say, “Its sole discretion to be unacceptable,” means that if you say anything they don’t like, they could pull down your account, and rightfully so. It is their platform.

There are other sections that are clearer, and it just went to show me that any platforms that are considered “mainstream,” would not allow, or support organizations like Carib101 Media Group. It has become the way of our current world; if you go against the mainstream in any way, your life is disrupted. Let’s go through a few more sections.

GoFundMe states that you are not to use the Services to raise funds or establish or contribute to any Campaign with the implicit or explicit purpose of or involving: 

1. The violation of any law, regulation, industry requirement, or third-party guidelines or agreements by which you are bound.
   

3. User Content or campaigns that are fraudulent, misleading, inaccurate, dishonest, or impossible.

10. Activities within, or involving countries, regions, governments, persons, or entities that are subject to U.S. and other economic sanctions under applicable law, unless such activities are expressly authorized by the appropriate governmental authority.

1. Not create any liability for GoFundMe or cause us to lose (in whole or in part) the services of our Internet Service Provider(s), web hosting company or any other vendors or suppliers.

The sections above are the ones that stuck out for me after re-reading our page write up. I want readers to take a look at what we wrote.

“As the free world quickly ushers in mass censorships, lock-downs, curfews, and other restrictions that infringe on our human rights and freedoms, it’s becoming criminal to express opinions and question anything that doesn’t fall in line with the current narratives.

We are committed to providing you with more specialists, more educators, more interviews, and more of the news you need to make proactive decisions for your family and your community.

It seems as if we live in a world that makes it illegal to ask questions. Mainstream media is only telling you a tiny percentage of the stories that take place, only reporting on what fits current narratives, and what appeases governments. They are feeding fears and anxieties. Creating anger and frustrations, instead of working for the people and holding our governments accountable.

We need leadership, real unbiased media to tell us the WHOLE story. All perspectives, the real truths, the beautiful, the good, the bad, and the ugly… that’s what the media is supposed to be. 

Standing up and going against the grain is a battle in itself, and we hope you are willing to put your money towards building a platform for the people.”

GoFundMe’s terms of service say it can take down funds that are “for the legal defence of alleged crimes associated with hate, violence, harassment, bullying, discrimination, terrorism or intolerance of any kind relating to race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, sex, gender or gender identity or serious disabilities or diseases.”

What stuck out to me was the part that said, “Intolerance of any kind.” I suppose that in their eyes, what we were doing could be seen as intolerant. My research showed me that we were not unique; there have been other pages that were taken down.

The point of this story is to express the fact that if you are doing anything that goes against the mainstream, stay off their platforms. Save yourself the time and agony. It is time that we start building our own platforms and finding ways to support those who are going against the grain and are standing for truth.

We are in this together, so we better start acting like it.