GoFundMe blocks fundraising for treatment at German oncology clinic

According to the Financial Times, the crowdfunding platform GoFundMe has temporarily banned fundraising campaigns for cancer treatments at the Hallwang Clinic in Dornstetten, Germany, following concerns that both patients and donors were being exploited.

The Hallwang clinic in Dornstetten, Germany reportedly offers “cutting-edge” alternative treatments, such as “high-dose vitamin infusions” and “ozone therapy” for cancer patients. GoFundMe notified the center that it must seek further advice from medical experts before it will be permitted on the site.

GoFundMe’s terms of service bans content or campaigns that are “fraudulent, misleading, inaccurate, dishonest, or impossible,” as well as “products that make health claims that have not been approved or verified by the applicable local and/or national regulatory body.” The company has been criticised in the past for permitting campaigns that verged on violating such terms.

The crowdfunding company joins several other tech giants combating fake health claims. Pinterest has blocked anti-vaccination searches and actively removed related content, and Facebook deleted several pages dedicated to fringe or holistic medicine in an apparent crackdown on pseudoscience.