Letter Highlights Seemingly Inconsistent Enforcement of Community Guidelines 

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash) today sent a letter to Eventbrite President and CEO Julia Hartz requesting details regarding the firm’s seemingly inconsistent enforcement of community guidelines targeting conservatives, which has resulted in the removal of events featuring comments from Riley Gaines, while permitting feature speakers espousing allegiance to Hamas.

They wrote: 

“In the last few weeks, Eventbrite, it seems, has selectively enforced its terms of service by removing some events while allowing potentially violative events to remain on the site. We raise the issues below not to dictate or remove events and users from your marketplace, but to better understand your Community Guidelines enforcement process.” […] 

“We struggle to comprehend the rationale for removing this event, while other Eventbrite listings that seemingly violate several of Eventbrite’s Community Guidelines remain live, including some that feature speakers espousing allegiance to entities designated by the U.S. Government as foreign terrorist organizations.” […] 

“Because Gaines’s promotion of the widely held view to preserve women’s athletics starkly contrasts with events on Eventbrite featuring speakers sympathetic to mass murder, this leads us to wonder if pro-terrorist and antisemitic events and event speakers do not plainly violate Eventbrite’s prohibition of content that would ‘discriminate against, harass, disparage, threaten, incite violence against, or otherwise target individuals or groups based on their actual or perceived race, ethnicity, religion, national origin.’ We seek information on what metrics Eventbrite uses to enforce its Community Guidelines on selected issues such as women’s athletics versus terrorism and antisemitism.”   

BACKGROUND:

On October 23, 2023, Eventbrite removed an event listing titled, “Protecting Women’s Sports with Riley Gaines,” from its platform. This event was intended to be a public forum for participants, including female athletes, to express issues, experiences, and consequences of biological males competing in female competitions. Eventbrite listed “Rahm 4 Palestine (GAZA): Talk & Dinner,” scheduled for October 27, featuring a headline speaker who, after the October 7 Israeli massacre, using his verified X account, publicly posted antisemitic messaging that was viewed more than one million times. A sold-out conference scheduled for November 10 in Washington, D.C., “Palestine Center 2023 Annual Conference,” was promoted on Eventbrite. In advertising this event, organizers referred to the country of Israel as “Israeli apartheid” under Eventbrite’s “About this event” tab. 

The letter was also signed by Reps. Bob Latta (R-OH), Morgan Griffith (R-VA), and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL). CLICK HERE to read the full letter. 

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