How Flodesk Ruined My Business: A Warning
Email server & newsletter system Flodesk services many small businesses; what they did to me this past week is so horrific I'm considering a lawsuit. Any tort lawyers interested in this - contact me.
Flodesk banned the FULCRUM News newsletter this past week — banned from sending emails to my own paying customers, in my own country.
Did I send something threatening, unlawful, or otherwise so unscrupulous that a ban without prior warning would be justified?
Not at all.
Out of the blue, we received an email that our account had been suspended, and without an explanation of our behavior to their “Review Team” and deletion of all subscribers who had opted in to our list — we wouldn’t be able to use the service any further.
Of course, requiring us to delete our hard won customer list is not exactly good use of the service.
And what behavior? Well, Flodesk asserted we are a cryptocurrency service for mentioning the word Bitcoin. I’m a tech journalist who covers leading topics of interest, including space, politics, AI, and — when it comes up — fintech and Bitcoin.
This doesn’t make me a Bitcoin or fintech business, any more than a crime reporter for the local newspaper is a cop…
If someone reports on the progress of SpaceX, it doesn’t make him or her an astronaut.
And in much the same way, as a well known independent news publisher, merely reporting on a $600 billion tech jewel known as “Bitcoin” in no way makes me a “cryptocurrency business.”
Does merely using the word Bitcoin constitute being “cryptocurrency content”?
We pay for our expenses in dollars, we pay our contractors in dollars, we make our money in dollars (ad revenue from Google AdSense and similar programs), and we don’t do any of the things that would make us a cryptocurrency business — like hosting other people’s money, or converting dollars into crypto for users, etc.
We asked Flodesk for clarification, and to identify which email or specific language had resulted in the ban.
They refused to do so, instead providing us a paltry $183 pro-rated refund and a two sentence email reply. In the meantime, we are unable to contact our thousands of subscribers and a large part of our business has been blown out as a result.
There’s also a loss of good will, and a tangible reputational loss here. Sending email is a bedrock aspect of the Internet, and a core part of our business model; being banned from reaching our own customers casts aspersions on our brand’s credibility. Are we so dangerous or unhinged that we are not entitled to use the SMTP/IMAP global email protocols any longer?
Such serious prohibition on access to the Internet is usually reserved for convicted serial killers, terrorists, SBF-level scammers, and mob bosses.
This level of vindictiveness toward mere independent thinkers, and mere investors in lawful Bitcoin, is something millions of us are genuinely fucking sick of — and it shouldn’t be coming from supposedly progressive San Francisco tech startups like Flodesk.
WHY villainize crypto in 2023, at all?
Are they going to turn off Larry Fink’s BlackRock newsletter also?
Are they going to tell Eric Schmidt he can no longer talk about Bitcoin, or Ether?
Again, I understand if we were actually a crypto business — then Flodesk would be within their rights to say we don’t want you to use our platform to send emails, just as their ToS also prohibits pharmaceutical companies and real estate firms from using their platform.
Yet if I simply mention I bought a new condo, and I’m excited about it — does that make me a real estate business?
If I simply mention I took my men’s multi-vitamin this morning with my breakfast and coffee, does that make me a major pharmaceutical corporation?
Of course not.
I wasn’t sending out market timing emails or technical analysis charts or any of the telltale crap that would make me a “market analysis” service either. If I were doing all that Jim Cramer garbage, I would understand Flodesk’s reticence to service our community. But I wasn’t, at all.
Our market analysis is always the same. Bitcoin good. Fiat bad.
Just literally a news brand, using their platform to update our paying subscribers on topics of interest to them.
As I've successfully filed two federal lawsuits in the past and am familiar with the process, I honestly feel there are grounds for a tort lawsuit here against Flodesk. They kneecapped my business’ email communications pipeline — our main method for staying in touch with customers, viewers, and subscribers — without cause, nor defined breach of the ToS.
Again, I’d argue that reporting on “Bitcoin” doesn’t make one a cryptocurrency business. It’s constantly on CNBC’s homepage, yet no one has made the argument that CNBC has magically morphed into a crypto firm. It’s still just a news company, providing financial news.
During the discovery process, a competent legal team will be able to ascertain which exact content — or outside forces — led to the ban of the FULCRUM News newsletter.
Further, we paid almost $500 to Flodesk in exchange for their premium plan, which promised us “unlimited emails” to our subscribers.
Being banned during one of the most exciting weeks for Bitcoin ever (with Larry Fink’s words and the ETF hopes) is a breach of the agreed upon service level, and again, I’d argue our content doesn’t fall into the category of cryptocurrency business or fintech firm — not at all. A judge or jury would likely agree. On the merits, this is a suit that FULCRUM would likely win.
For any lawyers or troubled Flodesk customers interested in the details of this sad interaction, I’ve provided the actual screenshots of Flodesk’s emails to us below.
Please contact us if you are a lawyer interested in pursuing a lawsuit against Flodesk on contingency. Also contact us if you have a similar experience with Flodesk as a paying customer. We probably aren’t alone in this horrific treatment.
Substack will be our only email communication platform in the interim, until we are able to get our old email server back up and running.
Shameful, Flodesk. How we will look back at this one day … banned from sending emails, for being one of the 200 million humans who believes in Bitcoin and talks about it.
Harassed and deplatformed for 6 years for being one of the first journalists to talk about DC politico John Podesta’s love for walnut saucing, “time in the torture chamber,” and Satanic spirit cooks with Marina Abramovic — events where “elite” attendees are dunked into blood baths (complete with other bodily fluids). Banned from my own YouTube and Twitter for reporting on that, even though it’s true.
I was talked about for years and smeared, without being able to reply; watching as the man I reported on was elevated to White House advisor, as those who outed his treachery (like Julian Assange) were sidelined and marginalized.
I’ll never forgive. I’ll never forget. Nor will millions of others.
Companies like Flodesk aren’t on the right side of human history.