The kitty is controversial. Prosecuted by the associations SOS homophobia and Mousse for “insults and calls for transphobic hatred” following its passage In What an era! on France 2 in October, blogger and author Dora Moutot appealed to crowdfunding to cover her legal costs. The one who describes herself as a “femalelist” has opened a kitty on Leetchi.
The platform was challenged on Tuesday on Twitter by several Internet users questioning the legality of such an approach. “Our mission is to put generosity within reach of all hands. Thus, we welcome a diversity of projects and reject any form of discrimination”, then replied the site.
“Our field of intervention is limited to the legal framework, insisted this Wednesday at 20 minutes a spokeswoman for Leetchi. All prize pools aimed at covering legal costs are authorized as long as the judgment has not been rendered against them. [de la personne qui l’a ouverte]. This does not violate the law or our T&Cs (general terms and conditions of use). »
The T&Cs mention that a kitty is prohibited if it “directly or indirectly incites discrimination, hatred of a person or a group of people because of their origin, their sexual orientation, their membership or their non-belonging to a specific ethnic group, nation or religion”. But they do not mention gender identity.
“We reject all forms of discrimination, but we have no choice”
However, to the question posed by 20 minutes, “Could an individual prosecuted for insults and incitement to anti-Semitic or xenophobic hatred open a kitty to cover his legal costs? », Leetchi answers yes.
And to develop: “We understand all the reactions. We reject all forms of discrimination but we have no choice. We cannot take sides and decide based on our opinion whether or not to delete a kitty because we consider that it is not correct. We can do this only from the moment the conviction is recorded. »
In 2019, however, Leetchi had not waited for the court’s decision to suspend, after two days of controversy, the kitty of Christophe Dettinger, accused of having hit several gendarmes during a day of mobilization of yellow vests. Some 145,000 euros had been collected. Two years later, the court had confirmed the cancellation of the kitty and the return of funds to contributors, on the grounds that the collection was contrary to public order. In the meantime, Christophe Dettinger had been sentenced to thirty months in prison, 18 of which were suspended.