GoFundMe has cancelled a campaign that raised more than $179,000 for the Convoy to Canberra for violating its terms of service.
Thousands of anti-vaxxers, conspiracy theorists and sovereign citizens in trucks, vans and cars had made their way to the nation’s capital last week in protest against a variety of grievances ranging from vaccine mandates to an unfounded belief in the illegitimacy of the Australian government. It had been inspired by a similar protest in Canada that led the mayor of Ottawa to declare a state of emergency.
A week ago, the ABC reported that GoFundMe had frozen the fundraiser until the organiser verified their identity and provided information about how the funds would be distributed.
GoFundMe has told Crikey the campaign has been removed by its trust and safety team after going through its vetting and verification process.
“The fundraiser was removed for breaching the GoFundMe terms of service. All donations have been refunded in full,” it said in an email.
It declined to provide more details about the decision, including what part of the terms of service had been broken.
A GoFundMe campaign “Oz to Canberra Convoy Official” launched on January 26 raised $179,764 as of February 4, according to a cached copy of the campaign. The fundraiser’s page said that money would go to James Greer’s account and vaguely promised “reimbursement or transfer”.
Greer, described as a doomsday prepper and leader of the protests, has since been arrested and released on bail for possession of a sawn-off firearm and various traffic violations.
Another prominent Victorian anti-vaccine campaigner has raised more than $10,000 on GoFundMe to pay for “food and fuel” to drive a mobile billboard truck and other cars to Canberra. As of publication, that campaign remains active.
The Canadian protest raised US$8 million on GoFundMe before the platform froze, cancelled and eventually decided to refund donations. The decision to stop donations — which came as the protests turned violent — has prompted US Republicans to call for investigations into the crowdfunding platform.
A donation page for the protest on the Christian fundraising platform GiveSendGo — which has become popular with far-right and conspiracy groups — has raised more than US$3.5 million in two days.
A GiveSendGo page for the Canberra protest was created but is unavailable. GiveSendGo has been contacted for comment.
Crowdfunding has emerged as a major form of financing for online anti-vaccine and conspiracy communities. Last year Crikey reported on how a handful of lawyers had fundraised more than $1 million for challenges to vaccine mandates and other public health restrictions.
