When supporters of Andrew Anglin, editor of neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer, wanted to raise funds to help him in http://www.officialchargesshop.com/shop-by-players-jahleel-addae-je... a legal battle against the Southern Poverty Law Center, they turned to the only site that would allow them to host this type of campaign: WeSearchr.
In less than two months, the Daily Stormer vs. SPLC Legal Defense Fund campaign raised more than $155,000. The money will allow Anglin to fight a lawsuit brought against him by Tanya Gersh and the SPLC. The plaintiffs allege Anglin motivated his followers to threaten Gersh after Anglin believed she harassed the mother of "alt-right" figure Richard Spencer.
Many people turn crowdfunding sites to tap into the generosity of the public for social causes. However, most crowdfunding companies like Kickstarter, Indiegogo and GoFundMe have a strict policy against campaigns they consider racist, sexist, or encouraging harassment.
WeSearchr welcomes them all—and takes a steep 15 percent cut, about three times what its competitors charge.
"They don't do controversial bounties http://www.officialvikingshop.com/shop-by-players-tom-johnson-jerse... or controversial crowdfunds," said WeSearchr co-founder Charles "Chuck" C. Johnson. "They'll just throw them off. We're willing to take pretty much anyone, so long as the cut is larger."
WeSearchr was never meant to be a platform just for the "alt-right," Johnson insists, although he's the founder of a news site called Gotnews.com that is clearly to the right of mainstream news outlets.
But he believes left-leaning publications and websites have created a hole for people with these ideological values, he said. That's where WeSearchr steps in.
"We're basically the monopoly for people on the right," he said. "There's literally nowhere else for them to go."
"The market created an opportunity"
Johnson, born in 1988, got his start as a right-wing journalist and provocateur. At Claremont McKenna college, he created a blog called the Claremont Conservative and often engaged in public spats with campus figures, Shamar Stephen Youth Jersey according to a profile in Mother Jones. After graduation, he gained notoriety for provocations like trying to identify "Jackie," the anonymous source who told Rolling Stone about being gang-raped at the University of Virginia; the magazine retracted the story after further investigations found no evidence the event ever happened.