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Anti-vaxxers have been using GoFundMe for a long time to raise funds to spread their dangerous message, but the site is cutting them now, The Daily Beast has learned.
"Fundraising campaigns to promote misinformation about vaccines violate GoFundMe's terms of service and will be removed from the platform," spokesman Bobby Whithorne told The Daily Beast.
"We are doing a thorough review and will remove all campaigns currently on the platform."
This is the latest crackdown on activists who challenge the facts and believe that the medical establishment, the government and the pharmaceutical industry are engaged in a plot to harm American children.
The American anti-vax movement is behind two measles outbreaks that have infected some 300 people – mostly children – in New York and the Pacific Northwest.
Last week, the American Medical Association warned giants of social media, including Amazon, Facebook, Google, Pinterest, Twitter and YouTube, that they were helping to boost propaganda and confuse parents.
But as The Daily Beast has already pointed out, anti-vaxxers have also used sites like GoFundMe to secure their email campaigns.
Whithorne said such fundraisers were "extremely rare" and that the site had removed fewer than 10 campaigns to date.
The Daily Beast found that fundraisers that have been benefited or encouraged by anti-vaccination groups or "vaccine choices" have yielded at least $ 170,000 over the last four years. They understand:
- Larry Cook, a prominent anti-vax activist, spent more money than anyone else spreading his message on Facebook and raised $ 79,900 in various GoFundMe campaigns.
- A $ 25,220 legal defense fund was promoted by Health Freedom Idaho and Sarasota for Vaccine Choice.
- Three campaigns promoted by the A Voice for Choice Facebook page raised $ 39,801.
Melissa Sullivan, executive vice president of Health Choice Connecticut, who raised $ 2,650 under her previous name, Vaccine Choice CT, said the expulsion of GoFundMe was a "violation of the first amendment" and suggested, without no evidence to support, that the platform was "under pressure". of Big Pharma. "
"Whether you believe this is true or not, everyone is entitled to their opinion," said Sullivan. "I hope that they will reconsider. This movement must be able to obtain funds to fight against the giants of the pharmaceutical sector such as Merck and other vaccine manufacturers. "
Cook's fundraising campaigns, which funded Facebook ads for women of childbearing age in Washington State during the last measles outbreak, appear to have been removed earlier this week.
Cook, whose website contained a disclaimer that some donations could be used to pay his "personal bills", did not respond to the Daily Beast's request for comment.
GoFundMe Terms of Service explicitly prohibit donations for "products that make health claims that have not been approved or verified by the applicable local or … national regulatory body".
Earlier this week, he banned fundraising campaigns to cover treatment at a controversial German cancer clinic that offers untested treatments of "high-dose vitamin infusions" and of "ozone treatment". GoFundMe told Financial Times it would be "talking to organizations and experts" in the United States and the United Kingdom to combat medical misinformation.
"We know we have a major role to play on big issues like this, and as we continue to grow … our policies will continue to evolve to ensure we serve at best people, "said a spokesman to the newspaper.
Tara Smith, professor of epidemiology at Kent State University, hailed GoFundMe's ban, but said the anti-vax movement would find other ways to raise funds and spread its message.
"I appreciate the initiative, but [this movement] to raise funds before GoFundMe and I'm sure they will find other ways once their campaigns are removed, "she said. "I guess they'll just go back to shippers or online newsletters to solicit donations in another way."
Smith said that she was not surprised by the amount of money donated to anti-vaxxer groups via the site.
"There are many true believers, and I know they are ready to support that with their money," she said. "I think of all the science that this money could fund, and that makes me sad."
In recent days, Facebook and YouTube have announced efforts to reduce anti-vax content and Amazon has begun to remove some books and documentaries. Now that GoFundMe has joined them, activists have started looking for new sources.
Sullivan, of Health Choice Connecticut, said his organization had created a MeWe page in case Facebook started it. In a message to more than 160,000 members of his private anti-vax Facebook group last week, Cook introduced a new idea that he said could "turn the vaccine business around" – an anti-vax media.
"What if I created a website where parents – like you – could submit stories online that could be re-read and easily published? … As a blog about natural parenting, with only tens, if not hundreds of # 39 "authors?", He writes. "If done right, I think it could be a quick deployment of news stories to get more attention … Prepare your news NOW so that at launch, we can go big."
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