Christian funding platform GiveSendGo is down after a cybersecurity breach led to the distribution of private donor information.
The Boston-based website gained national attention last week after it refused to comply with an order from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to freeze funds donated to support truckers involved in Freedom Convoy 2022.
Supporters of the grassroots anti-vaccine mandate protest flocked to the alternative fundraising platform after GoFundMe announced it was removing fundraising related to the convoy from its site.
On the morning of Feb. 14, GiveSendGo.com was redirected to the domain GiveSendGo.wtf.
The website plays a video from Disney’s animated children's movie Frozen with a message condemning the Freedom Convoy, its supporters, and GiveSendGo.
Addressing “grifters and hatriots,” the message claims supporters of the movement “helped fund the January 6th insurrection in the US” and “helped fund an insurrection in Ottawa.” The message also says those involved keep “the raging fire of misinformation going” until “it burns the world’s collective democracies down.”
“On behalf of sane people worldwide who wish to continue living in a democracy, I am now telling you that GiveSendGo itself is frozen.”
The message came as news broke that the website had been hacked sometime between Feb. 13 and Feb. 14. GiveSendGone included a link to tens of thousands of records connected to people who had donated to the convoy.
Distributed Denial of Secrets, a nonprofit website that has hosted the leaked data of right-wing groups, announced Monday morning that it has been sent 30 megabytes of GiveSendGo donor information. The information included names, email addresses, zip codes, and IP addresses.
The convoy had raised over $10 million by January to cover the food, fuel, and lodging costs of truckers participating in the demonstration in downtown Ottawa.
GoFundMe released $1 million after convoy organizers showed they had a clear distribution plan but froze the remaining funds. The website said in a statement it will refund all donations.
Jacob Wells, the CEO and founder of GiveSendGo, told Fox & Friends Weekend that the decision was “a huge PR mistake.”"Our platform is booming," he said. "We haven't seen this much business. I mean, last year we grew incredibly. This year, the same pace is on 100% month over month. It's absolutely astounding. People are vowing to never use GoFundMe again because of the ideological stances that they're taking. We take a neutral position. We allow people to fundraise."
Over $9 million had been raised on the website for the truckers following GoFundMe’s announcement. Wells confirmed that some of the funding had already been distributed to the truckers.
Texas, Florida, Missouri, and West Virginia are investigating GoFundMe for blocking and withholding donations.
GiveSendGo is still down for maintenance at the time of this report. The Freedom Convoy 2022 protest is currently in its third week.
