Discover, one of the largest US credit card issuers, has blocked donations to GiveSendGo, a crowdfunding site where supporters of Kenosha, Wisconsin, shooter Kyle Rittenhouse have raised nearly $400,000 for his legal defense.
The financial services company said it terminated payments to GiveSendGo for violating its operating regulations, Forbes reported Thursday. Discover declined to say what regulations the Christian fund-raising site violated, saying it “makes no judgment about customers' use of their funds” and that as a payment processor, it terminates acceptance only in cases where merchants violate its regulations.
Rittenhouse's legal defense fund had raised more than $398,000 on GiveSendGo, almost doubling its goal, as of Thursday evening. Supporters will continue being able to make donations using other forms of payment, assuming other credit-card issuers don't follow suit.
Backers for the 17-year-old Rittenhouse previously had a fund-raiser for the teen's legal defense on GoFundMe, but the mainstream crowdfunding platform deleted the page, saying it violated unspecified terms of service. GoFundMe, which has previously blocked fund-raisers for other conservative causes, set terms allowing itself to prohibit activity it deems, for any reason, to be “unacceptable.”
Rittenhouse faces charges of first-degree murder and attempted homicide after shooting to death two people and wounding a third during a Black Lives Matters protest. He also has become a symbol in the US culture war – one of hatred for leftist politicians and media outlets and one of bravery and persecution for many conservatives. For example, Democrat Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley called Rittenhouse a “white supremacist domestic terrorist.” Conservatives, such as actor James Woods and media critic Mark Dice, have pointed to video footage that they say clearly shows the teen acted in self-defense while being attacked by rioters.
Rittenhouse supporters also have met with resistance on social media. Twitter earlier this week suspended the account of Lin Wood, the lawyer who launched Rittenhouse's legal defense fund, saying he violated an unspecified rule. The platform also has locked the accounts of such prominent conservatives as author Ann Coulter and journalist Cassandra Fairbanks for tweeting support for Rittenhouse, which Twitter found to be condoning an act of violence.
Twitter users blasted Discover for cutting off GiveSendGo, some saying they will cut up their Discover cards in response. “It's so eye-opening seeing so many large companies come out to block truth and justice,” another netizen said.
I just cut up my Discover card.
— Catherine ❤️'s Trump 🇺🇸 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@Cat_Luvs_Trump) September 3, 2020
Discover card gets cut in half and burned...thanks for the info.
— The Time Is Now [PPC] 🇨🇦🇺🇸 (@john_zealand) September 3, 2020
It’s so eye opening seeing so many large companies come out to block truth and justice. 😡
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