Israel Folau's controversial money-raising scheme to fund his legal fight with Rugby Australia has been shut down by the GoFundMe organisation.
And the £414,000 (A$800,000) donated so far to the shamed former Wallabies full-back is set to be refunded with GoFundMe Australia saying Folau breached their terms and conditions.
Folau's decision to ask the public for money to help bankroll his legal fight with Rugby Australia, over his sacking for homophobic social media posts, ignited fierce debate across the globe.
But GoFundMe Australia have now acted in shutting down his online page and in a statement it's regional manager Nicola Britton said: "Today we will be closing Israel Folau's campaign and issuing full refunds to all donors.
"After a routine period of evaluation, we have concluded that this campaign violates our terms of service.
"As a company, we are absolutely committed to the fight for equality for LGBTIQ people and fostering an environment of inclusivity. While we welcome GoFundMe's engaging in diverse civil debate, we do not tolerate the promotion of discrimination or exclusion.
"In the days since Mr Folau's campaign launched, more than one million dollars have been donated to hundreds of other campaigns, large and small, across Australia. Those acts of kindness are the heart of GoFundMe.
"Our platform exists to help people help others. Australians have shown themselves to be among the most kind and generous people in the world. We look forward to helping more Australians fundraise for causes they care about in the coming months and years."
According to the terms and conditions on the website, users may not attempt to raise money "for the legal defence of … intolerance of any kind relating to race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, sex, gender or gender identity, or serious disabilities or diseases".
Folau was widely criticised over the weekend after asking the public to donate A$3 million (£1.65m) to fund his legal fight against Rugby Australia, which terminated his contract in May over Instagram posts claiming "hell awaits" gay people.
He has launched legal proceedings with the Fair Work Commission, and is seeking up to A$10million (£5.45m) in damages.
Folau says he is disappointed by the decision to suspend his crowdfunding campaign and revealed he was targeted in a cyber attack on the launch of his campaign.
Folau claimed GoFundMe "buckled" to pressure with their announcement his online page was being closed down.
He also revealed his website had been subject to a denial of service attack, which was understood to have taken his team 12 hours to rectify last week.
"Since requesting public donations to help him with his legal action against Rugby Australia, Israel and his supporters have come under intense scrutiny in the media," a spokesman told the Brisbane Times.
"Further, Israel’s website has been the target of what we believe was a sustained cyber attack and there has been a deliberate attempt to vilify his wife Maria for supporting her husband.
"While Israel does not intend to respond in detail at this time regarding the accusations thrown at him or his family, he wants it known that these attacks have hardened his resolve.
"Thankfully, several organisations have already expressed interest in supporting Israel’s efforts to raise money for his ongoing legal case."
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