Attorney Gen. demands GoFundMe prove removal of all plagiarized charities' web pages

(WAND) - Attorney General Kwame Raoul and 21 attorneys general and charitable regulators sent a letter to GoFundMe after reports the company plagiarized donation web pages for charities nationwide without the charities' knowledge or consent.

In the letter, Raoul and the coalition said they shared concerns about GoFundMe's "misconduct" and called for "immediate remedial measures, such as providing proof the company has removed all unauthorized donation web pages."

"GoFundMe has taken advantage of vulnerable donors whose only mistake was trying to support charitable organizations or help others who need monetary assistance to get through hard times," Raoul said. "I'll continue to work with my colleagues to ensure our residents who want to support charitable causes can do so knowing that their donations will really support the stated cause or individual."

GoFundMe is a for-profit Delaware corporation headquartered in California and registered with the California's Registry of Charities and Fundraisers as a charitable fundraising platform.

Raoul and the coalition claim GoFundMe plagiarized donation web pages for over 1.4 million charities without those charities' prior consent or knowledge. They said the donation pages contained inaccurate information about charities and that GoFundMe's solicitations contained deceptive and misleading information.

Joining Raoul in filing the amicus brief are the attorneys general of California, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.

A GoFundMe spokesperson provided the following statement:

"GoFundMe is committed to helping nonprofits reach new donors by making it easier for the millions of people on our platform to discover and support the causes they care about. Nonprofit Pages were created using publicly available information to help people support nonprofit organizations, with donations going to the intended nonprofit.

After hearing feedback from nonprofit leaders in October, we acted quickly to make Nonprofit Pages fully opt-in, removed and de-indexed unclaimed pages, and turned off search engine optimization by default. The immediate changes we made in October directly addressed the concerns outlined in the letter received today from the state Attorneys General, and reflect our continued commitment to transparency, accountability, and partnership with the nonprofit sector. We welcome the opportunity to share with the Attorneys General the concrete steps we have already implemented in response to the issues raised."