Tony Romm, a journalist, reporting fake news for the Washington Post has attempted to have the GoFundMe campaign to raise money for the wall President Trump wants to build along the Mexican border.
He claims it is a violation of their policies to raise money for racist extremism. Obviously, he is under the impression that the wall will have a gate for white people. I checked and it doesn’t. He put in a complaint with GoFundme, who politely told him to go pound sand.
So there’s an effort on GoFundMe to raise cash money for a border wall. Has more than $5M in donations (seeking $1B) and claims to have contacts in the Trump admin (have asked for more). But it got me thinking: is that, like, allowed on the site? (1/3)
— Tony Romm (@TonyRomm) December 20, 2018
So I asked GoFundMe if this wall fundraiser violates that. Spox: “This campaign does not violate our terms of service. The funds are safely held by our payment processor and we will work with the organizer to transfer funds” or return them if target isn’t met (3/3)
— Tony Romm (@TonyRomm) December 20, 2018
the state of our discourse is such that this thread — which merely explores the funding campaign in the context of the site’s ToS — is a political lightning rod. somehow the most boring legalese has turned into a rallying cry for a certain set of users to go on the attack https://t.co/Mo6Cfppm2F
— Tony Romm (@TonyRomm) December 20, 2018
Romm explained that the believed the donation page was in violation of the site’s rules against intolerance.
“GoFundMe terms prohibit attempts to raise cash money rooted in ‘intolerance of any kind relating to race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, sex, gender or gender identity, or serious disabilities or diseases,’ among other limits,” he tweeted.
Romm, who is a technology policy reporter, said that a spokesperson from the donation crowdfunding site told him the project was not in violation of their terms.
Romm then complained that his attempt to kill the donation page was being misrepresented as politically motivated on Twitter.