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@arvheckjays said in #14:

@QueenRosieMary En passant, this is a magnificent example of lichess professionality. A guy got banned for cheating and his appeal got rejected. Then a master complained in the forum, guaranteeing the person banned, instead of cheating, would rather be eaten alive by sharks. Result? Unbanned lichess.org/forum/general-chess-discussion/lichess-you-got-this-one-wrong-i-promise

Thanks for pointing this out, it is very insightful for me because i had the case of somebody banned for cheating on a single game while being in the same room as me so i was sure he didn't cheat for real. It was very difficult for me to accept so i did the same as the IM but sadly i don't have the same notoriety so i wasn't listened. What i learn from from this case is that the cheat ban can come from a report as we originally suspected and unlike people claims that it should be some algorithm detection.

So the cheat detection can be very light and the appeal broken because if you have the misfortune of doing something against the TOS in the meantime like creating a new account to avoid the ban, your appeal will not be even considered and you will be screwed for the rest of your life as lichess forbid player with a banned account for cheating to create a new one.

@arvheckjays said in #14: > @QueenRosieMary En passant, this is a magnificent example of lichess professionality. A guy got banned for cheating and his appeal got rejected. Then a master complained in the forum, guaranteeing the person banned, instead of cheating, would rather be eaten alive by sharks. Result? Unbanned lichess.org/forum/general-chess-discussion/lichess-you-got-this-one-wrong-i-promise Thanks for pointing this out, it is very insightful for me because i had the case of somebody banned for cheating on a single game while being in the same room as me so i was sure he didn't cheat for real. It was very difficult for me to accept so i did the same as the IM but sadly i don't have the same notoriety so i wasn't listened. What i learn from from this case is that the cheat ban can come from a report as we originally suspected and unlike people claims that it should be some algorithm detection. So the cheat detection can be very light and the appeal broken because if you have the misfortune of doing something against the TOS in the meantime like creating a new account to avoid the ban, your appeal will not be even considered and you will be screwed for the rest of your life as lichess forbid player with a banned account for cheating to create a new one.

@nicolas647 said in #31:

because if you have the misfortune of doing something against the TOS in the meantime like creating a new account to avoid the ban, your appeal will not be even considered and you will be screwed for the rest of your life

this is not a "misfortune" as you describe, it is ban evasion, which is clearly not following the TOS, of course there are consequences...

@nicolas647 said in #31: > because if you have the misfortune of doing something against the TOS in the meantime like creating a new account to avoid the ban, your appeal will not be even considered and you will be screwed for the rest of your life this is not a "misfortune" as you describe, it is ban evasion, which is clearly not following the TOS, of course there are consequences...

also, why is everyone hijacking this thread to talk about cheating?

the MSF Charity arena is tomorrow evening:

lichess.org/tournament/JbdQe217

and you can donate here:

https://donate.tiltify.com/cfdfecbd-9d52-4f07-b1aa-d1ea63473e99/details

just to try to bring it back on-topic

also, why is everyone hijacking this thread to talk about cheating? the MSF Charity arena is tomorrow evening: lichess.org/tournament/JbdQe217 and you can donate here: https://donate.tiltify.com/cfdfecbd-9d52-4f07-b1aa-d1ea63473e99/details just to try to bring it back on-topic

@nicolas647 said in #31:

As someone who has been abused by this site's admins I tell you: don't be so sure about anybody's innocence. You can be 100% sure only about yourself.
I looked for a long time (since 2023) for innocents banned for cheating. I found very, very few believable persons. Lots don't go around talking about it, but still the number of complaints is so low it makes me think it's an extremely rare occurrence. When someone is banned for cheating usually the reason for it is that he cheated. Never forget that.

Cheating ban also happened to a friend of mine by the way, a strong OTB player that I know in real life. It was shortly after a "Cheat Detected" game termination (I know what that is caused from, so don't explain it to me). In his opinion the cheat detected was caused by the recent installation of an extension named "Lichess Tools". He explained that in the appeal, but they didn't lift the ban.
As I said you can be 100% sure only about yourself, but while not 100% sure, I'm 99.99% sure of his innocence, also because he doesn't have any reason to do anything like that. Most of people cheating are kids or adults a little... "special" (not to say stupid, because it's something VERY stupid). He is not a kid nor "special". He is a very serious guy and really I can't see him doing anything like that.

Back to your friend: does he play OTB? How old is he? Were his ratings very high? Did he improve all of sudden? Did he cheat in the past?
If you want tell me his account's name, I'll take a look at it and tell you how much likely it is he is innocent in my opinion. I play online since 2010 and I played A LOT. I'm also a decent player. So, sometimes I can tell if something's off.

Another question: how do you know he was banned for that game?

About new accounts being forbidden, despite them claiming they don't let you create another one unless you admit, I never admitted but they let me create a new one. More than one, to be fair (right now I play with another account, I don't play with arvheckjays anymore because some people know the name of the person behind this account and since already once I've been banned for cheating without doing it I'm afraid it could happen again).
It's suspicious (on your friend's side) they didn't allow him to create a new account. Maybe it wasn't his first account closed for cheating.

I think the lichess admins rely too much on statistics. They look for all kinds of inconsistencies and if something is abnormal you earn yourself a cheating ban. I found this some time ago https://lichess.org/forum/general-chess-discussion/analysis-of-lichess-cheating-detection-with-machine-learning-ml-a-mis-use-of-ml--doesnt-work
I don't know how much reliable it is (it's just an anonymous guy on a forum). I don't understand a single word of that, so I can't give an opinion.
Bad faith is an option in my case, but not the only one I consider. When I was banned I was playing differently than usual (I've got serious chronic health issues and psychological issues as well, both those things heavily influence the way I play) and winning lots of games, to the point right before the ban (like two-three days before, I don't remember) I was afraid to be banned, but I decided to trust they wouldn't ban innocents. Bad decision.
Instead, I think (never tried it of course) if you cheat but play in a very consistent way you don't get banned. I know a guy I'm 99.99% sure he cheats. He is a fake master who uses high online ratings to sell chess lessons (no, I'm not talking about Ono, he has very low ratings). He got literally TENS of accounts banned in the past both on Chess.com and lichess, and online he is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH stronger than OTB. Even the excuses he gives and his attitude are weird. So yeah, I'm 99.99% sure he cheats.
Very well: he is member here since 2021, has over 13000 games played and over 67 days of game time and still isn't banned. Maybe he decided to share his earnings with lichess admins, I don't trust them. But maybe (and I think this is the most likely scenario) he just learned how to avoid detection. Smart cheaters are very hard to detect in my opinion.
lichess admins should use more chess knowledge and common sense and less statistics. And be in touch with the REAL chess community, so that reliable people could be protected more and unreliable ones (the guy I talk about, everyone knows he is a scammer) would more easily be banned.

Talking about undetected cheaters, anticheating systems are good only to detect obvious ones. They only get 4 informations:

  1. Games results
  2. Moves played
  3. Moves timing
  4. A few external factors (active window and possibly mouse and keyboard inputs)
    If you study a random titled player and make a deep statistical analysis on his online play, considering every possible statistic (his openings, his typical choices in recurring positions, timing of moves, accuracy compared to timing, accuracy compared to piece moved etc. etc.) you can easily create a bot that imitates him. You create a new account, you make a bot that plays every single game with the titled player's style (especially easy with AI) and stay careful not to give weird inputs (like switching windows often). Very, very, very hard to detect you. If not impossible. This is why online chess can't be taken seriously. Even I could do something like that if I wanted.
@nicolas647 said in #31: > As someone who has been abused by this site's admins I tell you: don't be so sure about anybody's innocence. You can be 100% sure only about yourself. I looked for a long time (since 2023) for innocents banned for cheating. I found very, very few believable persons. Lots don't go around talking about it, but still the number of complaints is so low it makes me think it's an extremely rare occurrence. When someone is banned for cheating usually the reason for it is that he cheated. Never forget that. Cheating ban also happened to a friend of mine by the way, a strong OTB player that I know in real life. It was shortly after a "Cheat Detected" game termination (I know what that is caused from, so don't explain it to me). In his opinion the cheat detected was caused by the recent installation of an extension named "Lichess Tools". He explained that in the appeal, but they didn't lift the ban. As I said you can be 100% sure only about yourself, but while not 100% sure, I'm 99.99% sure of his innocence, also because he doesn't have any reason to do anything like that. Most of people cheating are kids or adults a little... "special" (not to say stupid, because it's something VERY stupid). He is not a kid nor "special". He is a very serious guy and really I can't see him doing anything like that. Back to your friend: does he play OTB? How old is he? Were his ratings very high? Did he improve all of sudden? Did he cheat in the past? If you want tell me his account's name, I'll take a look at it and tell you how much likely it is he is innocent in my opinion. I play online since 2010 and I played A LOT. I'm also a decent player. So, sometimes I can tell if something's off. Another question: how do you know he was banned for that game? About new accounts being forbidden, despite them claiming they don't let you create another one unless you admit, I never admitted but they let me create a new one. More than one, to be fair (right now I play with another account, I don't play with arvheckjays anymore because some people know the name of the person behind this account and since already once I've been banned for cheating without doing it I'm afraid it could happen again). It's suspicious (on your friend's side) they didn't allow him to create a new account. Maybe it wasn't his first account closed for cheating. I think the lichess admins rely too much on statistics. They look for all kinds of inconsistencies and if something is abnormal you earn yourself a cheating ban. I found this some time ago https://lichess.org/forum/general-chess-discussion/analysis-of-lichess-cheating-detection-with-machine-learning-ml-a-mis-use-of-ml--doesnt-work I don't know how much reliable it is (it's just an anonymous guy on a forum). I don't understand a single word of that, so I can't give an opinion. Bad faith is an option in my case, but not the only one I consider. When I was banned I was playing differently than usual (I've got serious chronic health issues and psychological issues as well, both those things heavily influence the way I play) and winning lots of games, to the point right before the ban (like two-three days before, I don't remember) I was afraid to be banned, but I decided to trust they wouldn't ban innocents. Bad decision. Instead, I think (never tried it of course) if you cheat but play in a very consistent way you don't get banned. I know a guy I'm 99.99% sure he cheats. He is a fake master who uses high online ratings to sell chess lessons (no, I'm not talking about Ono, he has very low ratings). He got literally TENS of accounts banned in the past both on Chess.com and lichess, and online he is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH stronger than OTB. Even the excuses he gives and his attitude are weird. So yeah, I'm 99.99% sure he cheats. Very well: he is member here since 2021, has over 13000 games played and over 67 days of game time and still isn't banned. Maybe he decided to share his earnings with lichess admins, I don't trust them. But maybe (and I think this is the most likely scenario) he just learned how to avoid detection. Smart cheaters are very hard to detect in my opinion. lichess admins should use more chess knowledge and common sense and less statistics. And be in touch with the REAL chess community, so that reliable people could be protected more and unreliable ones (the guy I talk about, everyone knows he is a scammer) would more easily be banned. Talking about undetected cheaters, anticheating systems are good only to detect obvious ones. They only get 4 informations: 1) Games results 2) Moves played 3) Moves timing 4) A few external factors (active window and possibly mouse and keyboard inputs) If you study a random titled player and make a deep statistical analysis on his online play, considering every possible statistic (his openings, his typical choices in recurring positions, timing of moves, accuracy compared to timing, accuracy compared to piece moved etc. etc.) you can easily create a bot that imitates him. You create a new account, you make a bot that plays every single game with the titled player's style (especially easy with AI) and stay careful not to give weird inputs (like switching windows often). Very, very, very hard to detect you. If not impossible. This is why online chess can't be taken seriously. Even I could do something like that if I wanted.

P.S. Let's close this now, QueenRosieMary is right, it's off-topic. Also I don't want to write here anymore, but if I'm quoted in the forum I get carried away and answer. If you want write me in private, let's stop spamming here.

P.S. Let's close this now, QueenRosieMary is right, it's off-topic. Also I don't want to write here anymore, but if I'm quoted in the forum I get carried away and answer. If you want write me in private, let's stop spamming here.

Lichess should not have to close a topic about their own charity fundraiser because you can't stop spamming the topic, in your own words.

Lichess should not have to close a topic about their own charity fundraiser because you can't stop spamming the topic, in your own words.

@arvheckjays said in #35:

As someone who has been abused by this site's admins I tell you: don't be so sure about anybody's innocence. You can be 100% sure only about yourself.
I looked for a long time (since 2023) for innocents banned for cheating. I found very, very few believable persons. Lots don't go around talking about it, but still the number of complaints is so low it makes me think it's an extremely rare occurrence. When someone is banned for cheating usually the reason for it is that he cheated. Never forget that.

Cheating ban also happened to a friend of mine by the way, a strong OTB player that I know in real life. It was shortly after a "Cheat Detected" game termination (I know what that is caused from, so don't explain it to me). In his opinion the cheat detected was caused by the recent installation of an extension named "Lichess Tools". He explained that in the appeal, but they didn't lift the ban.
As I said you can be 100% sure only about yourself, but while not 100% sure, I'm 99.99% sure of his innocence, also because he doesn't have any reason to do anything like that. Most of people cheating are kids or adults a little... "special" (not to say stupid, because it's something VERY stupid). He is not a kid nor "special". He is a very serious guy and really I can't see him doing anything like that.

Back to your friend: does he play OTB? How old is he? Were his ratings very high? Did he improve all of sudden? Did he cheat in the past?
If you want tell me his account's name, I'll take a look at it and tell you how much likely it is he is innocent in my opinion. I play online since 2010 and I played A LOT. I'm also a decent player. So, sometimes I can tell if something's off.

Another question: how do you know he was banned for that game?

About new accounts being forbidden, despite them claiming they don't let you create another one unless you admit, I never admitted but they let me create a new one. More than one, to be fair (right now I play with another account, I don't play with arvheckjays anymore because some people know the name of the person behind this account and since already once I've been banned for cheating without doing it I'm afraid it could happen again).
It's suspicious (on your friend's side) they didn't allow him to create a new account. Maybe it wasn't his first account closed for cheating.

I think the lichess admins rely too much on statistics. They look for all kinds of inconsistencies and if something is abnormal you earn yourself a cheating ban. I found this some time ago lichess.org/forum/general-chess-discussion/analysis-of-lichess-cheating-detection-with-machine-learning-ml-a-mis-use-of-ml--doesnt-work
I don't know how much reliable it is (it's just an anonymous guy on a forum). I don't understand a single word of that, so I can't give an opinion.
Bad faith is an option in my case, but not the only one I consider. When I was banned I was playing differently than usual (I've got serious chronic health issues and psychological issues as well, both those things heavily influence the way I play) and winning lots of games, to the point right before the ban (like two-three days before, I don't remember) I was afraid to be banned, but I decided to trust they wouldn't ban innocents. Bad decision.
Instead, I think (never tried it of course) if you cheat but play in a very consistent way you don't get banned. I know a guy I'm 99.99% sure he cheats. He is a fake master who uses high online ratings to sell chess lessons (no, I'm not talking about Ono, he has very low ratings). He got literally TENS of accounts banned in the past both on Chess.com and lichess, and online he is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH stronger than OTB. Even the excuses he gives and his attitude are weird. So yeah, I'm 99.99% sure he cheats.
Very well: he is member here since 2021, has over 13000 games played and over 67 days of game time and still isn't banned. Maybe he decided to share his earnings with lichess admins, I don't trust them. But maybe (and I think this is the most likely scenario) he just learned how to avoid detection. Smart cheaters are very hard to detect in my opinion.
lichess admins should use more chess knowledge and common sense and less statistics. And be in touch with the REAL chess community, so that reliable people could be protected more and unreliable ones (the guy I talk about, everyone knows he is a scammer) would more easily be banned.

Talking about undetected cheaters, anticheating systems are good only to detect obvious ones. They only get 4 informations:

  1. Games results
  2. Moves played
  3. Moves timing
  4. A few external factors (active window and possibly mouse and keyboard inputs)
    If you study a random titled player and make a deep statistical analysis on his online play, considering every possible statistic (his openings, his typical choices in recurring positions, timing of moves, accuracy compared to timing, accuracy compared to piece moved etc. etc.) you can easily create a bot that imitates him. You create a new account, you make a bot that plays every single game with the titled player's style (especially easy with AI) and stay careful not to give weird inputs (like switching windows often). Very, very, very hard to detect you. If not impossible. This is why online chess can't be taken seriously. Even I could do something like that if I wanted.

Согласен!!!

@arvheckjays said in #35: > As someone who has been abused by this site's admins I tell you: don't be so sure about anybody's innocence. You can be 100% sure only about yourself. > I looked for a long time (since 2023) for innocents banned for cheating. I found very, very few believable persons. Lots don't go around talking about it, but still the number of complaints is so low it makes me think it's an extremely rare occurrence. When someone is banned for cheating usually the reason for it is that he cheated. Never forget that. > > Cheating ban also happened to a friend of mine by the way, a strong OTB player that I know in real life. It was shortly after a "Cheat Detected" game termination (I know what that is caused from, so don't explain it to me). In his opinion the cheat detected was caused by the recent installation of an extension named "Lichess Tools". He explained that in the appeal, but they didn't lift the ban. > As I said you can be 100% sure only about yourself, but while not 100% sure, I'm 99.99% sure of his innocence, also because he doesn't have any reason to do anything like that. Most of people cheating are kids or adults a little... "special" (not to say stupid, because it's something VERY stupid). He is not a kid nor "special". He is a very serious guy and really I can't see him doing anything like that. > > Back to your friend: does he play OTB? How old is he? Were his ratings very high? Did he improve all of sudden? Did he cheat in the past? > If you want tell me his account's name, I'll take a look at it and tell you how much likely it is he is innocent in my opinion. I play online since 2010 and I played A LOT. I'm also a decent player. So, sometimes I can tell if something's off. > > Another question: how do you know he was banned for that game? > > About new accounts being forbidden, despite them claiming they don't let you create another one unless you admit, I never admitted but they let me create a new one. More than one, to be fair (right now I play with another account, I don't play with arvheckjays anymore because some people know the name of the person behind this account and since already once I've been banned for cheating without doing it I'm afraid it could happen again). > It's suspicious (on your friend's side) they didn't allow him to create a new account. Maybe it wasn't his first account closed for cheating. > > I think the lichess admins rely too much on statistics. They look for all kinds of inconsistencies and if something is abnormal you earn yourself a cheating ban. I found this some time ago lichess.org/forum/general-chess-discussion/analysis-of-lichess-cheating-detection-with-machine-learning-ml-a-mis-use-of-ml--doesnt-work > I don't know how much reliable it is (it's just an anonymous guy on a forum). I don't understand a single word of that, so I can't give an opinion. > Bad faith is an option in my case, but not the only one I consider. When I was banned I was playing differently than usual (I've got serious chronic health issues and psychological issues as well, both those things heavily influence the way I play) and winning lots of games, to the point right before the ban (like two-three days before, I don't remember) I was afraid to be banned, but I decided to trust they wouldn't ban innocents. Bad decision. > Instead, I think (never tried it of course) if you cheat but play in a very consistent way you don't get banned. I know a guy I'm 99.99% sure he cheats. He is a fake master who uses high online ratings to sell chess lessons (no, I'm not talking about Ono, he has very low ratings). He got literally TENS of accounts banned in the past both on Chess.com and lichess, and online he is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH stronger than OTB. Even the excuses he gives and his attitude are weird. So yeah, I'm 99.99% sure he cheats. > Very well: he is member here since 2021, has over 13000 games played and over 67 days of game time and still isn't banned. Maybe he decided to share his earnings with lichess admins, I don't trust them. But maybe (and I think this is the most likely scenario) he just learned how to avoid detection. Smart cheaters are very hard to detect in my opinion. > lichess admins should use more chess knowledge and common sense and less statistics. And be in touch with the REAL chess community, so that reliable people could be protected more and unreliable ones (the guy I talk about, everyone knows he is a scammer) would more easily be banned. > > Talking about undetected cheaters, anticheating systems are good only to detect obvious ones. They only get 4 informations: > 1) Games results > 2) Moves played > 3) Moves timing > 4) A few external factors (active window and possibly mouse and keyboard inputs) > If you study a random titled player and make a deep statistical analysis on his online play, considering every possible statistic (his openings, his typical choices in recurring positions, timing of moves, accuracy compared to timing, accuracy compared to piece moved etc. etc.) you can easily create a bot that imitates him. You create a new account, you make a bot that plays every single game with the titled player's style (especially easy with AI) and stay careful not to give weird inputs (like switching windows often). Very, very, very hard to detect you. If not impossible. This is why online chess can't be taken seriously. Even I could do something like that if I wanted. Согласен!!!

@QueenRosieMary said in #37:

I didn't mean that. I meant "US", me and the others, should stop. You know my english isn't perfect. Try to understand what I mean, how would what you said make sense???

@QueenRosieMary said in #37: > I didn't mean that. I meant "US", me and the others, should stop. You know my english isn't perfect. Try to understand what I mean, how would what you said make sense???

Coming back into the topic, I live since long enough to distrust of people when big amounts of money are involved. I think in those scenarios often someone puts something in their pockets. Just like it happens in politics. With lots of people needing help where I live I don't see why should I give my money to who-knows-who.

RACISM - https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/jul/10/medecins-sans-frontieres-institutionally-racist-medical-charity-colonialism-white-supremacy-msf
AIDING AND ABETTING OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION (they came out clean but who knows) - https://www.msf.org/charges-case-against-rescues-sea-dropped-italy

This is just what I found with a very rapid Google search. Try asking ChatGPT if they've ever been accused of something. Here's what it answers when you ask a generic question about it (and I think there's much more).

  1. Neutrality and Access in Conflict Zones

MSF claims neutrality and independence, but has faced accusations such as:

Favoring one side: In conflicts like Syria or Yemen, MSF was accused by governments of indirectly supporting rebel groups by providing medical aid in territories they control.

Being expelled or restricted: Governments in countries like Ethiopia, Myanmar, and Syria have expelled or restricted MSF, seeing its independent operations as politically threatening.

  1. Internal Misconduct and Staff Behavior

In 2018, MSF faced serious allegations related to:

Sexual harassment and abuse: Whistleblowers reported misconduct by aid workers, including sexual exploitation and the use of prostitutes in African missions.

Poor handling of complaints: The organization was criticized for not adequately addressing or investigating internal reports of misconduct.

  1. Selective Humanitarian Engagement

MSF has been accused of:

Focusing on “media-friendly” crises, potentially neglecting severe but less-publicized emergencies, especially in parts of Africa.

Catering to Western donor interests more than to objective humanitarian need.

  1. Mediterranean Migrant Rescue Operations

MSF’s role in rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean has sparked controversy:

European governments accused it of encouraging illegal migration or acting as a “migrant taxi service.”

MSF has firmly stated its mission is solely to save lives, yet political backlash has led to ship seizures and port denials, especially in Italy.

  1. Transparency and Use of Funds

While generally considered a transparent NGO, MSF has faced:

Accusations of unclear local fund management in some missions.

Criticism over high executive salaries, viewed by some as inconsistent with the organization’s humanitarian ethos.

Coming back into the topic, I live since long enough to distrust of people when big amounts of money are involved. I think in those scenarios often someone puts something in their pockets. Just like it happens in politics. With lots of people needing help where I live I don't see why should I give my money to who-knows-who. RACISM - https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/jul/10/medecins-sans-frontieres-institutionally-racist-medical-charity-colonialism-white-supremacy-msf AIDING AND ABETTING OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION (they came out clean but who knows) - https://www.msf.org/charges-case-against-rescues-sea-dropped-italy This is just what I found with a very rapid Google search. Try asking ChatGPT if they've ever been accused of something. Here's what it answers when you ask a generic question about it (and I think there's much more). -------------------- 1. Neutrality and Access in Conflict Zones MSF claims neutrality and independence, but has faced accusations such as: Favoring one side: In conflicts like Syria or Yemen, MSF was accused by governments of indirectly supporting rebel groups by providing medical aid in territories they control. Being expelled or restricted: Governments in countries like Ethiopia, Myanmar, and Syria have expelled or restricted MSF, seeing its independent operations as politically threatening. 2. Internal Misconduct and Staff Behavior In 2018, MSF faced serious allegations related to: Sexual harassment and abuse: Whistleblowers reported misconduct by aid workers, including sexual exploitation and the use of prostitutes in African missions. Poor handling of complaints: The organization was criticized for not adequately addressing or investigating internal reports of misconduct. 3. Selective Humanitarian Engagement MSF has been accused of: Focusing on “media-friendly” crises, potentially neglecting severe but less-publicized emergencies, especially in parts of Africa. Catering to Western donor interests more than to objective humanitarian need. 4. Mediterranean Migrant Rescue Operations MSF’s role in rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean has sparked controversy: European governments accused it of encouraging illegal migration or acting as a “migrant taxi service.” MSF has firmly stated its mission is solely to save lives, yet political backlash has led to ship seizures and port denials, especially in Italy. 5. Transparency and Use of Funds While generally considered a transparent NGO, MSF has faced: Accusations of unclear local fund management in some missions. Criticism over high executive salaries, viewed by some as inconsistent with the organization’s humanitarian ethos.