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Elon Musk slams GoFundMe over protesting truckers — Analysis

The billionaire in contrast the fundraising platform to ‘skilled thieves’ after it froze donations for Freedom Convoy 2022

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted a meme on Saturday, calling US-based fundraising platform GoFundMe “skilled thieves.”

Musk additionally posted a screenshot of the platform’s 2020 tweet selling a marketing campaign to boost cash for farming contained in the ‘CHOP’ zone (Capitol Hill Occupied Protest) in downtown Seattle, Washington, which was occupied by activists through the peak of the anti-racism and police brutality protests within the US that yr. 

GoFundMe’s tweet from two years in the past mentioned: “In a group with no police, this farmer is feeding individuals and bringing them nearer collectively.”

“Double commonplace?” Musk wrote on Saturday, referring to the platform’s latest resolution to cease the marketing campaign to boost cash for Canadian truckers protesting the nation’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate. Musk additionally denied reviews that he had donated to the protesters.

1000’s of truckers have been flooding into Canada’s capital, Ottawa since late final week. Calling themselves ‘Freedom Convoy 2022’, they are saying the vaccine mandate and different restrictions endanger their livelihoods.

      

Freedom Convoy finds new crowdfunding platform & crashes it

Though police haven’t reported any main incidents and a few locals have proven help for the truckers, others have mentioned they really feel threatened, accusing the protesters of turning Ottawa into “an occupation zone.”

In a press release on Saturday, GoFundMe mentioned it froze the marketing campaign after Can$10 million (US$7.9mn) was raised, arguing that the organizers broke the phrases of service that prohibit “the promotion of violence and harassment.” GoFundMe had already launched Can$1 million (US$780,000). It mentioned the remaining cash is not going to go to the organizers of the Freedom Convoy instantly, however to charities of the organizers’ alternative.

Ottawa Police thanked GoFundMe on Twitter. “The choice to withhold funding for these illegal demonstrations is a vital step and we name on all crowdfunding websites to observe,” they wrote. 

Police earlier mentioned they had been conscious of “inappropriate and threatening language on social media” associated to the protests. Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly described the protests on Friday as “more and more unstable and more and more harmful.”

Protesters in downtown Ottawa “stay extremely organized, well-funded, extraordinarily dedicated to resisting all makes an attempt to finish the demonstration safely,” Sloly mentioned.

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