After they were kicked off of traditional fundraising sites like Patreon, and after white supremacist-oriented sites like Hatreon collapsed, America’s young white supremacists found themselves with few options for raising money.
For a few months, it appears that MakerSupport, a page founded by Purdue University student Conner Douglass, would be the last, best hope for white supremacists. As Richard Spencer said, MakerSupport “is all we’ve got.”
So much for all that. If the past two weeks are any indicator, support for MakerSupport has collapsed, with the site both ignoring users’ questions and preventing them from accessing their money.
Multiple users have complained over the previous days, both on Twitter and YouTube, about MakerSupport’s decision not to send donations to assorted clients, which range from PizzaGate conspiracists to Holocaust deniers to a self-described “celebrity roboticist.”
According to MakerSupport, the problem stems from issues with Stripe, a company that helps process online payments. (Others who have taken advantage of Stripe’s services include Milo Yiannopoulos.) As the site wrote two weeks ago, “Stripe is conducting a routine review of the platform and has put a short hold on payouts. They assured us that once their review is complete, all payouts will be resumed. They told us that the review will be completed in the next 4-5 days.”
However, there has been no update on the site since then. And users are growing restless.
I'm done with this SCAM
Check out this video. MakerSupport is under federal investigation.
GET OFF THIS SINKING SHIP NOWhttps://t.co/uy790bm8tF— Right Wing Bodyguard 🇺🇸🇮🇱 (@AmazonBodyguard) April 21, 2018
Seeing multiple accounts of @GoMakerSupport not paying out to creators. Looks like we may have a bit of a shitshow incoming.
— FlamingClaw 👌 (@FlamingClaw) April 24, 2018
People who have ever given to me on @GoMakerSupport, feel free to file disputes with your banks or cards – I received $0 of it! Thank you for your generosity, I never received it.
— Tranime Girl (@TranimeGirl) April 24, 2018
Comments on MakerSupport’s site are no better. As a sample:
— “Well, I guess it’s time to find a new platform.”
— “Cancelling maker support [sic] account.”
— “Conner Douglass is stealing the donations to content creators in the alt-community, both left & right. It’s just another scam, a combination of a pyramid & Ponzi scheme. This has been going on for months. He gives the same lame excuse every time, blaming Stripe for his theft. This time Stripe got wind of it & is fed up. This is a massive fraud.”
Last Friday on Twitter, MakerSupport said it “apologizes for the pause in payouts,” and that they “hope to have a final word within a week.” There have been no updates since. (MakerSupport did not respond to ThinkProgress’ request for comment.)
MakerSupport's team apologizes for the pause in payouts. We are currently working through an issue with Stripe and we hope to have a final word within a week.
— MakerSupport (@GoMakerSupport) April 20, 2018
Elsewhere, MakerSupport users on YouTube have called on supporters to stop sending donations via MakerSupport. As one cried, “Your money is locked up! My money is locked up!” Another posted a video entitled “MakerSupport Is Stealing Money From My Donation Account!!!!”
The apparent collapse of MakerSupport is, of course, the latest in a litany of setbacks for America’s young white supremacists. Not only have they been booted from all other fundraising platforms, but Spencer has seen a wholesale collapse in interest from potential recruits, watching few turn out on his recent tour, with his lawyer forced to shut down a side-project alongside. But if the site was, as Spencer said, all that young white supremacists had, then it appears they’ve got nothing left — and few means of income, if any, moving forward.