April 16, 2015
Current Events
The move to shut down Slager’s page was almost unprecedented for Indiegogo, since their usual policy clearly states: “Indiegogo allows anyone, anywhere to fund ideas that matter to them and just like other open platforms — such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter — we don’t judge the content of campaigns as long as they are in compliance with our Terms of Use.”
Indiegogo said in a statement it took down the page because “our Trust & Safety team regularly conducts verifications and checks and this campaign did not meet their standards.” However, the truth is public sentiment and a pending boycott of the funding site actually forced their hand. By last Friday, Slager’s campaign had raised a little more than $1,300 of its projected $5,000 goal.
Only 2 days prior to Indiegogo’s actions, GoFundMe completely rejected a Slager donation page.
“After review by our team, the campaign set up for Officer Slager was removed from GoFundMe due to a violation of our Terms and Conditions,” GoFundMe spokeswoman Kelsea Little said in an email.
Current Events
Interestingly, this isn’t the first time a crowdfunding campaign has been created in defense of a white police officer involved in the fatal shooting of a black man. GoFundMe previously removed a similar page supporting Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson after the shooting death of Michael Brown in August. Wilson’s campaign raised nearly $235,000 before it was taken down due to legal concerns and amid a series of violent protests nationwide.
With nowhere else to turn, the anonymous supporters of Officer Slager have since set up a Twitter and Facebook page in his honor.
