The sum exceeded one million euros at noon. This Monday, July 3, the kitty entitled “Support for the family of the Nanterre police officer”, launched by the polemicist Jean Messiha -a relative of Eric Zemmour- has reached a symbolic milestone, despite the multiplication of criticism. In total, more than 50,000 Internet users made a donation.
If the sum is impressive, nothing says yet that it reaches the family of the Nanterre police officer, currently in preventive detention in the Health prison. Because online jackpots – another is dedicated “to the mother of Nahel” – are governed by both the conditions of use of the platforms and by French law.
In this case, the pot for the policeman’s family was opened on the GoFundMe site, one of the largest collection sites in the world. According ReleaseJean Messiha had initially created a kitten on Leetchi, before the French site blocked it, demanding official documents from the creator.
The earlier Dettinger
On Twitter, the Sleeping Giants collective, which fights “against the financing of hate speech” on the internet, questioned GoFundMe for a possible breach of the conditions of use of the platform.
Because this is indeed the first risk for this fundraiser.
The T&C (General Terms and Conditions of Use) of the site list many cases that invalidate the jackpot. Most of the examples are pretty obvious (drug trafficking, human exploitation, etc.) but the site actually covers all eventualities in its point 8.
“Any User Content that reflects, incites or promotes conduct considered, in our sole discretion, abuse of power or incitement to terrorism, hate, violence, harassment, intimidation, discrimination, financing of terrorism or bigotry of any kind, or that reflects a abuse of power related to race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, “sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, disability or disease,” the site specifies.
There is also a precedent: the open kitty about Leetchi in favor of ex-boxer Christophe Dettinger, filmed in January 2019 beating the police during a yellow vest demonstration. Faced with the controversy, the French platform had quickly decided to block the collection and not pay the money. Then it evoked the breach of its general conditions of use that “prohibit any incitement to hatred or violence.” This decision will be confirmed, twice, by justice.
An “obedient” kitten
Could GoFundMe construe the pot of money for the police officer’s family as “incitement to violence”? Contacted by Tech&Co, the platform ensures that the collection is effectively compatible. At least in his eyes.
On the other hand, the 1881 law specifies that the money collected cannot be used to pay “fines, costs and damages dictated by judicial sentence”. Clearly, the money raised cannot be used to “pay off” a possible police conviction. Dieudonné was also sentenced in 2015 for having made an online payment to pay his fines.
This is also one of the reasons given by the court to cancel the payment of the kitty intended for Christophe Dettinger which “due to its broad purpose (…) also included a call for compensation for sentences liable to intervene in the future, which is contrary to public order”.
On the other hand, French law does not prohibit paying legal costs with the sum collected, a practice that GoFundMe, however, wanted to prohibit for cases of “alleged financial and violent crimes.”
At the moment, and in the absence of a conviction of the police officer who shot Nahel, it is not at all clear that justice can impose on the US platform the blocking of this fundraising. In case of conviction of the police officer, the courts can then seek to know if this kitty was used to finance the payment of a possible fine, or if he can contribute to support violent actions.
Two scenarios from which Jean Messiha seems to have wanted to protect himself by taking care not to designate the policeman himself as a future beneficiary.
Source: BFM TV
