GoFundMe to refund $10 million from Canada Convoy donations
The Federalist Senior editor Chris Bedford on GoFundMe facing backlash after shutting down the donation page for the Canadian trucker protest.
GoFundMe’s decision to remove the fundraiser for the trucker freedom protest in Ottawa is the latest example of big tech trying to shut down voices shunned by the left and is the “latest red flag that Silicon Valley’s power over us has to be stopped,” a former lieutenant governor of New York said.
Betsy McCaughey, a Republican who served with former Gov. George Pataki, penned an op-ed in the New York Post taking the Redwood City, Calif., fundraising company to task for its decision to ice out the protesters from the $10 million raised in online donations.
Protesters of the Freedom convoy gather near the parliament hill as truckers continue to protest in Ottawa, Canada on February 7, 2022. (Photo by Kadri Mohamed/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) (Kadri Mohamed/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
She pointed out that the company defended its move based on reports that there has been “violence and other unlawful activity.” She said as of Friday—when the company made its decision—there had been only three arrests. She compared the protest to the unrest in Portland, Ore., in 2020, and said GoFundMe seemed to have no issue helping raise “hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Portland General Defense Committee” that defended those arrested in the city “who set fires to police stations, vandalized city hall, wielded weapons and injured police officers.”
Truckers carry jerrycans to refuel as truckers continue to protest vaccine mandates against Covid-19, in Ottawa, Canada on February 7, 2022. (Photo by Kadri Mohamed/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) (Kadri Mohamed/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images / Getty Images)
GoFundMe did not immediately respond to an after-hours email from Fox News.
CRITICS MOCK ‘PUPPET’ TRUDEAU FOR FLEEING CAPITAL DURING TRUCKERS PROTEST: ‘TYRANT ON THE RUN’
Canadian police announced Monday that seven people have been arrested and more than 100 have been issued tickets in connection to “demonstration-related enforcement” in Ottawa.
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This comes after Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson declared a state of emergency Sunday afternoon as approximately 500 trucks and vehicles with the “Freedom Convoy” continued to linger in the streets of the Canadian capital to protest vaccine mandates and other coronavirus-related restrictions.
Fox Business’ Danielle Wallace and the Associated Press contributed to this report
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