Why Boycott GoFundMe is trending, A complete story

Ground Report | New Delhi: Why Boycott GoFundMe is trending; An online fundraising platform has pulled the plug on a campaign that raised more than $10 million for the "Freedom Convoy", cutting off a major source of financial support for the demonstration, which has left the nation for a week. The streets of the capital were blocked.

Why Boycott GoFundMe is trending

GoFundMe announced Friday that the fundraising page would be shut down after concluding that protests by truck drivers and their supporters in Ottawa had become a business.

Recently, the platform faced scrutiny after temporarily freezing millions of dollars raised to support Canadian truck driver convoys protesting vaccine mandates, until more details were received on how the money will be used.

“Given how this situation has evolved, no further funds will be distributed directly to the organizers of Freedom Convoy,” the platform wrote in a blog post about the decision. “We will work with the organizers to send all remaining funds to trusted and established charities verified by GoFundMe.”

It's been a week since convoy protests calling for an end to all vaccine mandates in Canada - including one for truckers crossing the Canada-US border - arrived in Ottawa.

“To ensure that GoFundMe remains a trusted platform, we work with local authorities to ensure that we have a detailed, factual understanding of what is happening on the ground. After a review of relevant facts and several discussions with local law enforcement and city officials, this fundraiser is now in violation of our Terms of Service (Word 8, which prohibits the promotion of violence and harassment) and has been put on the platform. has been removed from, Ottawa police data shows that crime in the area has actually decreased since the arrival of truck drivers and that none of the protestors has been arrested for a serious or violent crime.

“Organizers provided a clear distribution plan for the initial $1M that was released earlier this week and confirmed funds will be used only for participants who travelled to Ottawa to participate in the peaceful protest, GoFundMe said.

GoFundMe said it "supports peaceful protests and we believe this was the intention of the Freedom Convoy 2022 fundraiser when it was first created."

In fact, the company initially issued $1 million in funding to convoy organizers on January 27, when they presented a plan to distribute the funds to convoy participants.

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