GoFundMe Takes Down Fundraiser Aimed at Voter Fraud Detection

GoFundMe Takes Down Fundraiser Aimed at Voter Fraud Detection
A man drops off his ballot for the 2020 General Election in the United States outside the Chester County Government Services Center in West Chester, Pa., on Oct. 23, 2020. (Matt Slocum/AP Photo)
Zachary Stieber
11/7/2020
Updated:
11/8/2020
The GoFundMe website last week took down a fundraiser started by a former strategist for President Donald Trump’s campaign aimed at financing “voter fraud detection” efforts in several states.
Matt Braynard’s fundraising page was removed because it violated the website’s terms of service, he was told by a GoFundMe staffer.

The staffer said the page violated GoFundMe’s “prohibited content” term. He didn’t say which of the 28 possible violations the page violated.

GoFundMe didn’t immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.

“This fundraiser attempts to spread misleading information about the election and has been removed from the platform,” a GoFundMe spokesperson said in a statement to Mashable. “All donors will be fully refunded.”

Responding to GoFundMe’s claim, Braynard told The Epoch Times via email: “We made no misleading statements at all. We are completely transparent about what we’re doing with voter data to determine potential fraud.

“It’s in everyone’s interest, including Biden supporters, that our investigation happen because if we find this was a clean election, we will report that. GoFundMe is happy to fund bail money for terrorists, but an honest, academic investigation into potential abnormalities gets shut down because it might harm their political interest—all without the courtesy of a phone call or honest email—is an abuse of their Section 230 status,” he said.

“GoFundMe is effectively a publisher. And if they want to have the power to kick voices they disagree with off of their platform, they must be held civilly liable for what is done with money raised through their website.”

Braynard said his team is reviewing legal options.

He also announced tht he’s raising money to detect alleged voter fraud. The funds will be used to run the names of people who requested absentee ballots or voted early against Social Security and National Change of Address databases.

He’s now raising funds on GiveSendGo, another fundraising website.

That page has raised more than $172,000.