GoFundMe Now Faces Investigations From Florida, Texas, Missouri, West Virginia On ‘Freedom Convoy’ Donations
deadline.comUPDATE: The Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton (R), said Wednesday that the office will investigate GoFundMe after its decision to end a fundraising effort aimed at assisting the “Freedom Convoy” in Canada.
Paxton said they will review possible breaches or violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.Missouri’s AG Eric Schmitt is also probing the company, accusing GoFundMe of trying to silence the Freedom Convoy.The protest is broadening outside Ottowa as well.
Protest convoys are gearing up elsewhere in Canada, in the US, Europe and New Zealand.Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said Saturday morning that he and the state’s attorney general will investigate GoFundMe after it shut down a fundraiser for the Canadian truckers participating in the so-called “Freedom Convoy.”West Virginia attorney general also joined in, asking his residents to contact his office to let him know if they had “been victimized by a deceptive act or practice” by GoFundMe.GoFundMe originally shut down donations because of what it called “law enforcement reports of violence and other unlawful activity.
At first, GoFundMe said it would refund anyone who asked and donate the remainder to charities chosen by the Freedom Convoy organizers and verified by the site.However, the website later scrapped that plan, saying “donor feedback” led it to simplify things and automatically refund all donations.The fundraiser had hit the C$10 million—around $7.9 million in US dollars – with C$1 million already distributed before the fundraiser was halted.GoFundMe’s original plan didn’t sit well with DeSantis.
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