Amid an ongoing pandemic that has already claimed over 700,000 American lives, PayPal, GoFundMe, and other payment platforms are hosting donation pages and crowdfunding campaigns for organizations spreading misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines.
Groups known for spreading medical misinformation, including Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC), America’s Frontline Doctors, Children’s Health Defense, Urban Global Health Alliance, and the Evidence-Based Medicine Consultancy Ltd., all have campaigns or donation pages set up through the aforementioned platforms. Even though these fundraising efforts appear to violate the platforms’ policies, these groups have managed to raise tens of thousands of dollars to help fund their misinformation projects.
Some of these organizations have been spreading misleading claims about vaccines for years, while others have been founded recently with the purpose of pushing the use of drugs like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, which have not been proved effective for the prevention or treatment of COVID-19. In fact, the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have warned against using either drug for this purpose, stating that the misuse of these medications can cause serious harm.
PayPal’s terms of use state that the platform may not be used for activities related to “certain controlled substances or other products that present a risk to consumer safety” or “involve the sales of products or services identified by government agencies to have a high likelihood of being fraudulent.” Notably, PayPal also does not allow users to “provide false, inaccurate or misleading information,” and the platform has recently partnered with the Anti-Defamation League to “fight extremism and protect marginalized communities.” This partnership indicates that PayPal is aiming to minimize the harm caused by extremists using their services, but its inaction around groups using the platform to spread COVID-19 misinformation presents a danger to the very people its mission claims to help.
GoFundMe’s policy states that users must agree to “not to use the Services to raise funds or establish or contribute to any Fundraiser with the implicit or explicit purpose of promoting or involving ... products, medical practices, or any related equipment or paraphernalia that have been found by an applicable regulatory body to cause consumer harm.” The platform’s terms of service also prohibit “user content or Fundraisers that are fraudulent, misleading, inaccurate, dishonest, or impossible.” While GoFundMe has made efforts in the past to crack down on campaigns that promote vaccine misinformation, it has failed to successfully keep this type of content off the platform.
Despite these policies, the following organizations spreading misinformation about vaccines and COVID-19 have succeeded in using PayPal, GoFundMe, and other crowdfunding platforms to raise money during the pandemic:
Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance
The Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC) is a nonprofit organization that promotes unproven protocols for preventing and treating COVID-19. These protocols are centered around the use of ivermectin, a drug which numerous public health agencies and even its own manufacturer have warned against using for COVID-19.
The organization’s website states that all donations will be used to “support the FLCCC Alliance with the rising costs of public relations, research, medical education, translation, advocacy, and lobbying.” Clicking the donation button on the website redirects to a PayPal page through which donations can be made.
