Louisiana Attorney General Leads Bipartisan Call For GoFundMe Transparency along with 28 Other State Attorneys General
Louisiana Attorney General Leads Bipartisan Call For GoFundMe Transparency along with 28 Other State Attorneys General
Louisiana – Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry led a coalition of 28 Attorneys General in urging GoFundMe to implement better disclosure policies and greater clarity in terms of service for platform users. The letter was inspired, in part, by Attorney General Landry’s dissatisfaction with the popular crowdfunding platform’s refusal to honor American donations to the Freedom Convoy in Canada.
“GoFundMe’s actions against the Freedom Convoy earlier this year brought to light an extreme lack of transparency in their policies,” said Attorney General Landry. “Big Tech platforms such as these must be held accountable and not be allowed to hide behind arbitrary standards that allow them to pick and choose ‘worthy’ causes.”
Since its inception in 2010, GoFundMe has served over 50 million donors and assisted organizers in raising more than $5 billion, according to their website. Individuals, businesses, and charitable organizations pay a fee of 2.2-2.9 percent plus $0.30 per transaction. However, information on the terms of service and policies – particularly those pertaining to blocking, freezing, refunding, and re-directing donations – is difficult to come by and unclear.
Attorney General Landry and his colleagues note in a letter to GoFundMe that “If GoFundMe is making opaque and unilateral decisions about which fundraisers are legitimate and which fundraisers to re-route donations to irrespective of initial donor choice, GoFundMe has likely crossed the line from fundraising platform to fundraiser itself. Such a role implicates significantly different regulatory schemes directed at ensuring transparency in charitable giving.”
The Attorneys General also offer specific steps toward transparency and request additional information from the platform, such as how GoFundMe investigates or analyzes fundraisers on the platform; how they decide whether to block, freeze, redirect, or refund donations; and what happens to those donations.
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry is joined in the letter by Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas, and their colleagues from Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, U.S. Virgin Islands, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Follow this link to view the full letter to GoFundMe. (PDF)
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