Legal action against Eventbrite for unlawful discrimination

[Spero]

On Oct 27 2022, Eventbrite pulled my book launch event for 'Transpositions - personal journeys into gender criticism'. This was a collection of stories from men and women about how they got involved in issues around sex and gender. Some of you may have contributed.

They told me that I was promoting 'violent and dangerous' content. I asked them to explain themselves. They haven't. So I am taking them to court for unlawful discrimination against my gender critical belief.

I wrote about it in the Critic here thecritic.co.uk/why-is-eventbrite-obstructing-my-book-launch/

I am hoping that some people may feel able to do a spot of gardening. I know its dark and miserable and not the best weather for gardening, but I think this could be quite an important piece of digging. There are some really important questions to ask about how private companies, based overseas are allowed to dictate what we think or say.

Can I just check, when we say ‘dig’ we mean in allotment with some £$€¥ not actually dig a hole and jump in and keep digging a la Sparple Law demo’d here?

I dug. What happens to the money if Eventbrite accountants realise that you have the funds and have the law on your side and go into reverse ferret, offering apology and more?

I was asked in regards to international contracts:
How many of those contracts were governed by U.K. law?
and responded
Most of them (thinking about contracts we had that were governed by foreign laws, usually US law)

As in most of the international contracts (plural) I worked with fell under U.K. laws as compared to another nations’ laws.

I wasn’t saying that a contract (singular) would state within it that it is “governed by U.K. law.” Obviously, when you look through a stack of MoD contracts, they would individually specify whether the governing laws were English, Scots, etc.usually depending on place of performance or origin of supplier.

And much of what we do is governed by U.K. wide laws because we are the U.K. Government. We are not a business in England or Scotland or Wales.

But the question was deliberately vague I think.

But the question was deliberately vague I think.

And all of your answers have been very wrong vague huh.

Arse meet plate 🍿

I don’t know enough about the law to know whether or not Discovereads has a point but isn’t it possible that they do? When Toby Young was talking about being refused service by PayPal and the possibility of suing for discrimination, he definitely said something about there being difficulties due to PayPal being overseas.

And yet PayPal restored services claiming a 'mistake'. So I don't think these companies are immune to people making a fuss. Nor did PayPal remove services on such a clearly discriminatory basis. Nor is there - as far as I know - a 'PayPal UK'. But there is an Eventbrite UK.

Good luck spero

💐💐💐

But do the book launches identify as rocket launches?

@Spero
But there is an Eventbrite UK.

I’ll think you will find that Eventbrite U.K. is limited to a domain name for the purpose of accounting U.K. origin revenues & profits, and a business dba name & address for registering with the Companies House to file accounts and tax returns to HMRC. According to their T&Cs, Eventbrite U.K. is not a contracting entity unlike Eventbrite Argentina and Eventbrite Brazil:

T&Cs 1.2
“If you are a User located in any other jurisdiction, you are contracting with Eventbrite, Inc., a Delaware corporation, with its principal place of business at 535 Mission Street, 8th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105, Reg. No. 4742147 ("Eventbrite US").”…
”Note that irrespective of the entity with which you are contracting for purposes of Eventbrite Payment Processing, all other Services offered by Eventbrite are offered through either your local entity in the case of Eventbrite Argentina or Eventbrite Brazil, or Eventbrite US.”

Yes PayPal did restore services. I agree a fuss should definitely be made and can work wonders. I think it’s awful if companies are permitted discriminate and it needs to be drawn to people’s attention 100%

It disappears into the ether and is never mentioned again if previous non-starting crowdfunders are anything to go by.

OMG don’t mention the $100,000 that Keffals funded to pay their rent, increase the cat boy farms, take down KF and other take major legal action and has so far just disappeared.

So just to recap. On Discovereads analysis, any foreign country who operates in the UK - who provides goods and services to UK citizens in the UK, may compel them to contract out of their statutory rights pursuant to UK law. I don't see how this can be possible. But we shall see.

If it is right then it is a direct threat to our democracy.

Nor is there - as far as I know - a 'PayPal UK'.

www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/ua/useragreement-full

seems a good starting point.

I'm quite excited now I realise US law applies in the UK - my .22 Saturday Night Special is already being packed as I write.

(Naughty Jane !)

The thought that a book launch, of a book about British citizens' actual experiences is so potentially dangerous that it needs to be banned does make me laugh. I mean, there may be lesbians in chairs with pizza there. As we all know this is one of the most dangerous lethal weapons that the UK possesses.

To be fair to DR, your thread is being constantly bumped by them so maybe that’s actually a better contribution than my few spuds 🤷🏻

Your recap that you have ascribed as being my “analysis” is 100% a fabrication that bears absolutely no resemblance to anything I have said. I refute it fully and utterly. That “analysis” is the product of your own imagination.

With you being a barrister, I had expected a bit of integrity and honesty in our conversation.

No one has banned or tried to ban the book launch.

I just donated because I had to spend part of today meeting with the new EDI lead in my organisation, because some colleagues have apparently complained about the fact that I signed a letter more than a year ago. There were complaints at the time which were dismissed, but truly, the process is the punishment.

I found where to donate using the Twitter link

mobile.twitter.com/SVPhillimore/status/1589684471527182336

The more legal successes there are, the easier it is to stand fast in the face of idiotic complaints. Lots more digging needed!

Eventbrite literally gets its funding from events.

No idea why you are still here, haven't you got important international arms to sell?

My reading of Discoveread's analysis of the governing law and the process is that they are probably correct. The UK falls into "any other jurisdiction" under the contract, and the T&C are clearly state that:

If you are a User located in any other jurisdiction, you are contracting with Eventbrite, Inc., a Delaware corporation, with its principal place of business at 535 Mission Street, 8th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105, Reg. No. 4742147 ("Eventbrite US").

There's also a clear warning to be aware of the binding Arbitration clause in the case of disputes, such that any disputes can only be settled by arbitration (to take place in SF) or a small claim. Starting the small claim in the UK is highly likely to be opposed by Eventbrite on the basis of non jurisdiction, as you usually need to start a claim in country whose laws govern the contract. The contract stupulates:

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict of laws rules. These laws will apply no matter where in the world you live. But if you live outside of the United States, you may be entitled to the protection of the mandatory consumer protection provisions of your local consumer protection law. Eventbrite is based in San Francisco, California, and any legal action against Eventbrite related to our Services and that is not precluded by the arbitration provisions in these Terms must be filed and take place in San Francisco. Thus, for any actions not subject to arbitration, you and Eventbrite agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of the federal or state courts (as applicable) located in San Francisco County, California.

I think it might be too late to opt out of the Arbitration, that's how I read it just skimming through the terms.

That doesn't mean any claim is dead in the water. There might be grounds to apply for any claim/any arbitration to be heard in the UK, as your initial contact was made through the UK part of their business, and it may well have been a UK based operator who pulled the plug on you. And they will still need to justify pulling your event under the discretionary terms of the contract, which as I mentioned above, may have been exercised without any rational basis. And yes, your lawyers need to check how UK CPA and EqA laws may come into play.

My DH does a lot of this type of work for clients engaging in cross jurisdictional legal agreements, I will ask him tonight what he thinks.

Eventbrite is a digital platform that does tickets sales on behalf of event organisers in return for a commission. Refusing to be the ticket seller for an event, isn’t banning said event. No ticket seller has the authority to ban an event.

Removing an event and refunding all tickets sold is creating an obstacle to event organisers, but it’s not banning the event.

The event is still going forward from what I can see.

Im disability retired so those days are in the past.

I'm your worst nightmare - a lesbian with a pizza!

I'll get my coat...

@MoirasSaggyBundles

I think OP can still opt out of binding Arbitration and go straight to small claims court, county of San Fran per this clause:

”9d) Exceptions.
Notwithstanding this Agreement to arbitrate, either party may (i) bring an action on an individual basis in small claims court (to the extent the applicable claim qualifies); or (ii) bring enforcement actions, validity determinations or claims arising from or relating to theft, piracy or unauthorised use of intellectual property in state or federal court in the U.S. Patent or Trademark Office to protect its Intellectual Property Rights ("Intellectual Property Rights" means patents, copyrights, moral rights, trademarks, and trade secrets, but not privacy or publicity rights). In addition, the portion of any dispute or complaint relating to our participation in the US-EU or US-Swiss Privacy Shield Frameworks is subject to the Dispute Resolution section of our Privacy Policy before being subject to this Section.”

I haven’t even gotten into the Indemnification or Liability sections of the T&Cs but they are very robust too and would be yet more bad news for OP.

If it is right then it is a direct threat to our democracy.

This is the question I want answered, I think it’s important to understand as consumers whether we are protected under our own country’s laws or not. If not, then yeah I want to know and that’s why I’ll contribute. Best wishes @Spero