Content deleted Content added
Acroterion (talk | contribs) m Reverted edit by 2601:189:8400:6540:A98D:C082:E266:51D0 (talk) to last version by Randomstaplers |
GreenC bot (talk | contribs) Move 1 url. Wayback Medic 2.5 per WP:URLREQ#foxnews.com/section/year/ |
||
| (38 intermediate revisions by 27 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{pp-semi-indef|small=yes}}
{{Short description|American alt-tech social media service}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2019}}
Line 29 ⟶ 30:
| current_status = Active
| founder = {{nowrap|Andrew Torba, [[CEO]]}}<br />{{nowrap|Ekrem Büyükkaya, [[chief technology officer|CTO]]}}<ref name="Wolverton 2018">{{cite web |last=Wolverton |first=Troy |date=October 27, 2018 |title=The suspected Pittsburgh shooter allegedly had a following on a social network that many call the far-right's alternative to Twitter — here's everything we know about Gab |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-gab-2018-10 |access-date=August 15, 2020 |website=[[Business Insider]] |archive-date=August 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200828080740/https://www.businessinsider.com/pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-gab-2018-10 |url-status=live}}</ref>
}}{{Antisemitism sidebar|expanded=Web}}
'''Gab''' is an American [[alt-tech]] [[microblogging]] and [[social networking service]] known for its [[far-right]] userbase.<ref name="Selyukh 2017"/><ref name="Jasser 2021"/><ref name="Zeng 2021"/><ref name="Schumacher 2022"/> Widely described as a haven for [[neo-Nazi]]s
Researchers note that Gab has been "repeatedly linked to radicalization leading to real-world violent events".<ref name="Ribeiro 2021"/> The site received extensive public scrutiny following the [[Pittsburgh synagogue shooting]] in October 2018. The perpetrator of the attack, Robert Gregory Bowers, had a history of making extreme, antisemitic postings on the platform, as well as messages indicating an immediate intent to cause harm before the shooting.<ref name="Hutchinson 2018">{{cite news |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/pittsburgh-synagogue-alleged-mass-shooter-told-swat-officers/story?id=58803485 |title='Screw the optics, I'm going in': Alleged shooter posts on social media before attack |last1=Hutchinson |first1=Bill |last2=Levine |first2=Mike |date=October 28, 2018 |work=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |access-date=July 3, 2019 |last3=Weinstein |first3=Janet |last4=Seyler |first4=Matt |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190722205039/https://abcnews.go.com/US/pittsburgh-synagogue-alleged-mass-shooter-told-swat-officers/story?id=58803485 |archive-date=July 22, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Trautwein 2018">{{cite news |last1=Trautwein |first1=Catherine |last2=Thompson |first2=A. C. |title=Brothers Whom Authorities Linked to Pittsburgh Shooting Suspect Had Flyer Supporting Neo-Nazi Group, Officials Say |url=https://www.propublica.org/article/brothers-whom-authorities-linked-to-pittsburgh-shooting-suspect-had-flyer-supporting-neo-nazi-group-officials-say |access-date=August 28, 2019 |publisher=[[ProPublica]] |date=November 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181128165933/https://www.propublica.org/article/brothers-whom-authorities-linked-to-pittsburgh-shooting-suspect-had-flyer-supporting-neo-nazi-group-officials-say |archive-date=November 28, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Pagliery 2018"/> After the shooting, Gab briefly went offline when it was dropped by its hosting provider and denied service by several payment processors.<ref name="Molina 2018">{{Cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/nation-now/2018/10/29/gab-goes-offline-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting/1804582002/ |title=Gab, the social network used by accused Pittsburgh synagogue shooter, goes offline |last=Molina |first=Brett |date=October 29, 2018 |newspaper=[[USA Today]] |access-date=October 30, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181029200235/https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/nation-now/2018/10/29/gab-goes-offline-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting/1804582002/ |archive-date=October 29, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Linton 2018"/><ref name="Baker 2018" /> In 2021, Gab was among the platforms used to plan the [[2021 storming of the United States Capitol|United States Capitol attack]] on January 6.<ref name="Allyn 2021"/> Also in 2021, Gab suffered from a data breach called "GabLeaks".<ref name="Greenberg 2021" />
Gab's functionality is similar to that of [[Twitter]].<ref name="Hall 2019" /><ref name="Lonas 2021"/> Users of Gab can publish posts, initiate private chats, join groups, livestream and buy products.<ref name="What is Gab" /> The company also maintains an [[Mailbox provider|email service]], [[cloud service]], [[Text messaging|text messaging service]], advertisement sales system, [[server farm]], marketplace website, [[News aggregator|news aggregation website]], [[Advertising|advertising platform]], [[Video-conferencing|video-conferencing platform]], [[blog]], [[Online video platform|video hosting]], [[web browser]], and [[browser extension]] to allow commenting on third-party websites.<ref name="Fox 2022b" /><ref name="Miller 2022">{{Cite web |last1=Miller |first1=Cassie |last2=Carroll Rivas |first2=Rachel |date=March 9, 2022 |title=The Year in Hate & Extremism 2021 |url=https://www.splcenter.org/20220309/year-hate-extremism-2021 |access-date=March 12, 2022 |website=[[Southern Poverty Law Center]] |language=en |archive-date=March 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313233500/https://www.splcenter.org/20220309/year-hate-extremism-2021 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Conklin 2020">{{cite web |last=Conklin |first=Audrey |date=July 10, 2020 |title=What is Gab.com? |url=https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/what-is-gab |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200808002826/https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/what-is-gab |archive-date=August 8, 2020 |access-date=August 9, 2020 |website=[[Fox Business]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="Morse 2020" /><ref name="Gilbert 2019a" /><ref name="Online News Challenge" /><ref name="Fox 2022a" /> In July 2019, Gab switched its software infrastructure to a [[Fork (software development)|fork]] of [[Mastodon (software)|Mastodon]], a [[free and open-source]] social network platform. Mastodon released a statement in protest, denouncing Gab as trying to "monetize and platform racist content while hiding behind the banner of free speech".<ref name="Mastodon's Code">{{Cite web |title=Gab switches to Mastodon's code |url=http://blog.joinmastodon.org/2019/07/statement-on-gabs-fork-of-mastodon/ |access-date=2022-12-28 |website=Official Mastodon Blog |date=July 4, 2019 |language=en |archive-date=April 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417090202/https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2019/07/statement-on-gabs-fork-of-mastodon/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Makuch 2019"/>
==History==
=== 2016–2018 ===
Gab was founded in 2016 by [[chief executive officer]] (CEO) Andrew Torba and [[chief technology officer]] (CTO) Ekrem Büyükkaya, who had previously worked together at [[advertising]] technology company [[Automate Ads]] (formerly Kuhcoon).<ref name="Wolverton 2018" /><ref name="Jasser 2021">{{Cite journal |last1=Jasser |first1=Greta |last2=McSwiney |first2=Jordan |last3=Pertwee |first3=Ed |last4=Zannettou |first4=Savvas |date=June 28, 2021 |title='Welcome to No. GabFam': Far-right virtual community on Gab |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/14614448211024546 |journal=New Media & Society |volume=25 |issue=7 |pages=1728–1745 |doi=10.1177/14614448211024546 |s2cid=237824766 |url-access=subscription |quote=We find Gab's technological affordances – including its lack of content moderation, culture of anonymity, microblogging architecture and funding model – have fostered an ideologically eclectic far-right community united by fears of persecution at the hands of 'Big Tech'. |via=[[SAGE Journals]] |access-date=January 28, 2022 |archive-date=January 28, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220128030123/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/14614448211024546 |url-status=live }}</ref> Torba started working on the site in May 2016 and on August 15, 2016, Gab launched in private beta, billing itself as a "free speech" alternative to social networking sites Twitter and [[Facebook]].<ref name="Kantrowitz 2016"/><ref name="Neidig 2017">{{Cite news |url=https://thehill.com/policy/technology/347106-citing-hate-speech-google-suspends-social-media-site-favored-by-alt-right |title=Citing hate speech, Google suspends social media site favored by alt-right from app store |last=Neidig |first=Harper |date=August 18, 2017 |work=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]] |access-date=November 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122052215/https://thehill.com/policy/technology/347106-citing-hate-speech-google-suspends-social-media-site-favored-by-alt-right |archive-date=November 22, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="StartEngine">{{Cite web |title=Gab |url=https://www.startengine.com/startup/gab |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170712215207/https://www.startengine.com/startup/gab |archive-date=July 12, 2017 |access-date=July 12, 2017 |website=StartEngine}}</ref> Torba has cited "the entirely [[Left-wing politics|left-leaning]] Big Social monopoly", "social justice bullying", "the rise of online censorship during the 2016 election." and an alleged bias against conservative articles by Facebook as his reasons for creating Gab.<ref name="Hess 2016">{{Cite news |last=Hess |first=Amanda |author-link=Amanda Hess |date=November 30, 2016 |title=The Far Right Has a New Digital Safe Space |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/30/arts/the-far-right-has-a-new-digital-safe-space.html |url-status=live |url-access=limited |access-date=December 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161203105501/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/30/arts/the-far-right-has-a-new-digital-safe-space.html |archive-date=December 3, 2016}}</ref><ref name="Kantrowitz 2016">{{Cite news |last=Kantrowitz |first=Alex |date=September 9, 2016 |title=This New Social Network Promises Almost-Total Free Speech To Its Users |newspaper=[[BuzzFeed News]] |url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexkantrowitz/new-social-network-gab-growing-fast-free-speech |url-status=live |access-date=December 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161203085429/https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexkantrowitz/new-social-network-gab-growing-fast-free-speech |archive-date=December 3, 2016}}</ref><ref name="Mak 2021">{{cite web |last=Mak |first=Aaron |date=June 29, 2021 |title=Gab Is Furious That Donald Trump Signed Up for Another Right-Wing Social Network |url=https://slate.com/technology/2021/06/donald-trump-rally-rumble-gab-parler.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629213108/https://slate.com/technology/2021/06/donald-trump-rally-rumble-gab-parler.html |archive-date=June 29, 2021 |access-date=July 1, 2021 |website=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |language=en}}</ref><ref name="What is Gab">{{Cite web |date=2022-08-04 |title=What is Gab? A look at the far-right social media platform backing Doug Mastriano |url=https://www.penncapital-star.com/campaigns-elections/what-is-gab-a-look-at-the-far-right-social-media-platform-backing-doug-mastriano/ |access-date=2022-08-05 |website=[[Pennsylvania Capital-Star]] |language=en-US |archive-date=August 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220811133654/https://www.penncapital-star.com/campaigns-elections/what-is-gab-a-look-at-the-far-right-social-media-platform-backing-doug-mastriano/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Gab AI, Inc. was incorporated on September 9, 2016.<ref name="SEC 2019" /> Utsav Sanduja later joined Gab as [[chief operating officer]] (COO).<ref name="Timberg 2018">{{cite news |last1=Timberg |first1=Craig |last2=Harwell |first2=Drew |last3=Elizabeth |first3=Dwoskin |last4=Brown |first4=Emma |date=October 31, 2018 |title=From Silicon Valley elite to social media hate: The radicalization that led to Gab |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/10/31/silicon-valley-elite-social-media-hate-radicalization-that-led-gab/ |url-status=live |url-access=limited |access-date=January 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181031145703/https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/10/31/silicon-valley-elite-social-media-hate-radicalization-that-led-gab/ |archive-date=October 31, 2018}}</ref>
Torba said in November 2016 that the site's user base had expanded significantly following [[Twitter Files|censorship controversies involving major social media companies]],<ref name="Shaw 2016">{{cite news |last=Shaw |first=Adam |date=November 28, 2016 |title=As Twitter cracks down on alt-right, aggrieved members flee to 'Gab' |publisher=[[Fox News]] |url=
On May 8, 2017, Gab exited [[private beta]].<ref name="StartEngine" /><ref name="Munn 2022">{{Cite journal |last=Munn |first=Luke |date=2022-02-15 |title=Sustainable Hate: How Gab Built a Durable "Platform for the People" |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/358656540 |journal=[[Canadian Journal of Communication]] |language=en |volume=47 |issue=1 |pages=221, 222 |doi=10.22230/cjc.2022v47n1a4037 |s2cid=246907637 |issn=1499-6642 |via=ResearchGate}}</ref>
During August and September 2017, immediately following the [[Unite the Right rally|Unite The Right rally]] in [[Charlottesville, Virginia|Charlottesville]], Gab experienced another increase in new users, gaining around 3,300 per week.<ref name="McSwiney 2021">{{cite web |date=June 1, 2021 |title=Gab's gift to the far right |url=https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/gab-s-gift-far-right |access-date=June 1, 2021 |website=[[Lowy Institute]] |language=en |archive-date=June 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601013017/https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/gab-s-gift-far-right |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Berlatsky 2018" />
In early September 2017, Gab faced pressure from its [[domain registrar]] Asia Registry to take down a post by ''[[The Daily Stormer]]'' founder Andrew Anglin, giving Gab 48 hours to do so.<ref name="Robertson 2017">{{cite web |title=Far-right friendly social network Gab is facing censorship controversy |url=https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/6/16259150/gab-ai-registrar-andrew-anglin-daily-stormer-crackdown |last=Robertson |first=Adi |date=September 6, 2017 |website=[[The Verge]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180404073239/https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/6/16259150/gab-ai-registrar-andrew-anglin-daily-stormer-crackdown |archive-date=April 4, 2018 |access-date=April 3, 2018}}</ref> Gab later removed the post.<ref name="Robertson 2017" /> [[Danny O'Brien (journalist)|Danny O'Brien]] of the [[Electronic Frontier Foundation]] commented that this pressure was part of an increase in politically motivated [[Domain name#Seizures|domain name seizures]].<ref name="Hayden 2017">{{cite news |last=Edison Hayden |first=Michael |title=Nazis on Gab social network show there is no such thing as a free speech internet |url=http://www.newsweek.com/nazis-free-speech-hate-crime-jews-social-media-gab-weev-668614 |access-date=May 6, 2018 |newspaper=[[Newsweek]] |date=September 22, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180504184518/http://www.newsweek.com/nazis-free-speech-hate-crime-jews-social-media-gab-weev-668614 |archive-date=May 4, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>
On August 9, 2018, Torba announced that [[Microsoft Azure]], Gab's host, had threatened to suspend the site for "weeks/months" if they failed to remove two antisemitic posts made by Patrick Little, [[2018 United States Senate election in California|a U.S. Senate candidate]] who had been ejected from the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] for his antisemitism.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Krazit |first=Tom |date=August 9, 2018 |title=Gab user deletes anti-Semitic content after Microsoft Azure threatened to shut down the site |work=[[GeekWire]] |url=https://www.geekwire.com/2018/gab-user-deletes-anti-semitic-content-microsoft-azure-threatened-shut-site/ |url-status=live |access-date=August 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180810020404/https://www.geekwire.com/2018/gab-user-deletes-anti-semitic-content-microsoft-azure-threatened-shut-site/ |archive-date=August 10, 2018}}</ref><ref name="Brandom 2018">{{cite news |last=Brandom |first=Russell |date=August 9, 2018 |title=Microsoft threatened to drop hosting for Gab over hate speech posts |work=[[The Verge]] |url=https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/9/17671188/microsoft-gab-hate-speech-hosting-ban-deplatform |url-status=live |access-date=August 13, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180812173652/https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/9/17671188/microsoft-gab-hate-speech-hosting-ban-deplatform |archive-date=August 12, 2018}}</ref> According to ''[[The Verge]]'', the posts "express intense anti-Semitism and meet any reasonable definition of [[hate speech]]".<ref name="Brandom 2018"/> Little said in the posts that [[Jews]] should be raised as "[[livestock]]" and that he intended to destroy a "[[holohoax]] memorial".<ref name="Brodkin 2018">{{Cite web |last=Brodkin |first=Jon |date=August 10, 2018 |title=Microsoft nearly banned Gab over post saying Jews should be raised as livestock |url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/08/microsoft-nearly-banned-gab-over-post-saying-jews-should-be-raised-as-livestock/ |access-date=February 1, 2021 |website=[[Ars Technica]] |language=en-us |archive-date=September 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240901235110/https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/08/microsoft-nearly-banned-gab-over-post-saying-jews-should-be-raised-as-livestock/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In response to Azure's threat, Little posted on Gab that "I'll delete the posts, but this is a violation of our rights as Americans".<ref name="Brodkin 2018" /> Gab's Twitter account also asserted that Little had self-deleted the posts, but this was contradicted by Torba who said Gab itself had deleted the posts which "unquestionably" broke their "user guidelines".<ref>{{cite news |date=August 10, 2018 |title=Gab user's anti-Semitic posts removed |work=[[BBC News]] |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-45141871 |url-status=live |access-date=January 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180810200842/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-45141871 |archive-date=August 10, 2018}}</ref> On the same day, [[Alex Jones]] interviewed Torba on ''The Alex Jones Show'' during his coverage of his own permanent ban from [[YouTube]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Zadrozny |first=Brandy |author-link=Brandy Zadrozny |date=August 9, 2018 |title=Right-wing platforms provide refuge to digital outcasts — and Alex Jones |work=[[NBC News]] |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/right-wing-platforms-provide-refuge-digital-outcasts-alex-jones-n899161 |url-status=live |access-date=August 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200502045333/https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/right-wing-platforms-provide-refuge-digital-outcasts-alex-jones-n899161 |archive-date=May 2, 2020}}</ref> Little was suspended indefinitely from Gab in late November 2018 for encouraging [[harassment]] of private individuals; Gab claimed that although Little's account had posted hate speech, it was not the cause of the ban.<ref>{{cite news |last=Dolsten |first=Josefin |date=November 28, 2018 |title=Holocaust Denier Who Ran for Congress Remains Active on Social Media |work=[[Haaretz]] |url=https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-youtube-and-twitter-leave-account-of-holocaust-denier-who-ran-for-congress-untouched-1.6699674 |url-status=live |access-date=January 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181129161341/https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-youtube-and-twitter-leave-account-of-holocaust-denier-who-ran-for-congress-untouched-1.6699674 |archive-date=November 29, 2018}}</ref>
According to Gab's filings with the SEC, around 635,000 users were registered on Gab by September 10, 2018.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dickson |first1=Caitlin |last2=Wilson |first2=Christopher |date=October 30, 2018 |title=Who Is Gab Founder Andrew Torba? |work=[[HuffPo]] |agency=[[Yahoo! News]] |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gab-founder-andrew-torba_us_5bd89d70e4b0dee6eececbc5 |url-status=live |access-date=January 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190118184353/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gab-founder-andrew-torba_us_5bd89d70e4b0dee6eececbc5 |archive-date=January 18, 2019}}</ref> On September 12, 2018, Gab purchased the Gab.com domain name from [[Sedo]] for $220,000 (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=220000|start_year=2018}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) on [[Flippa]], an [[E-commerce|online business marketplace]]; it had previously been using the domain Gab.ai.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.thedomains.com/2018/09/22/gab-ai-upgrades-to-gab-com/ |title=Gab.ai upgrades to Gab.com |last=Hackney |first=Raymond |date=September 22, 2018 |website=TheDomains |access-date=February 19, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190219130316/https://www.thedomains.com/2018/09/22/gab-ai-upgrades-to-gab-com/ |archive-date=February 19, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://namebio.com/gab.com |title=GAB.COM last sold for $220,000 on 2018-09-12 at Flippa |website=namebio.com |access-date=February 19, 2019 |archive-date=November 26, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201126082245/https://namebio.com/relax |url-status=live}}</ref>
Line 62 ⟶ 63:
Robert Gregory Bowers, the suspected shooter in the [[Pittsburgh synagogue shooting|attack against a Pittsburgh synagogue on October 27, 2018]], maintained an active, verified Gab account where he displayed the neo-Nazi [[Dog-whistle politics|code-phrase]] "[[Fourteen Words|1488]]" and a bio that said, "jews are the children of [[satan]]". Just prior to the shooting, he used this account to post "[[HIAS]] likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can't sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I'm going in".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Renshaw |first=Jarrett |date=October 29, 2018 |title=Who is Robert Bowers, the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting suspect? |work=[[Reuters]] |editor-last=Orlofsky |editor-first=Steve |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pennsylvania-shooting-suspect-idUSKCN1N10S6 |url-status=live |access-date=May 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190510162820/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pennsylvania-shooting-suspect-idUSKCN1N10S6 |archive-date=May 10, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Kates |first=Graham |date=October 30, 2018 |title=Gab appears to be losing investors after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting |work=[[CBS News]] |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pittsburgh-shooting-gab-appears-to-be-losing-investors-after-synagogue-attack-robert-bowers/ |url-status=live |access-date=May 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181030225707/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pittsburgh-shooting-gab-appears-to-be-losing-investors-after-synagogue-attack-robert-bowers/ |archive-date=October 30, 2018}}</ref>
After Bowers was arrested, Gab suspended his profile, gathered all user data for the account, and contacted the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI).<ref name="Conklin 2020" /><ref name="What Is Gab">{{Cite news |date=October 27, 2018 |title=What Is Gab, the Site Used by Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting Suspect? |work=[[U.S. News & World Report]] |agency=[[Reuters]] |url=https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2018-10-27/what-is-gab-the-site-used-by-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-suspect |url-status=live |access-date=April 24, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116181516/https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2018-10-27/what-is-gab-the-site-used-by-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-suspect |archive-date=November 16, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Matsakis |first=Louise |date=October 27, 2018 |title=Synagogue Shooting Suspect's Anti-Semitic Gab Posts Are Part of a Pattern |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |url=https://www.wired.com/story/pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-gab-tree-of-life/ |url-status=live |access-date=April 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181028022735/https://www.wired.com/story/pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-gab-tree-of-life/ |archive-date=October 28, 2018}}</ref> On October 27, 2018, the day of the shooting, PayPal, [[GoDaddy]], and [[Medium (website)|Medium]] terminated their relationship with Gab,<ref name="Carbone 2018">{{Cite news |last=Carbone |first=Christopher |date=October 28, 2018 |title=After Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, Gab banned by PayPal, GoDaddy, Medium, suspended by two other platforms |publisher=[[Fox News]] |url=https://www.foxnews.com/tech/after-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-gab-banned-by-paypal-suspended-by-two-other-platforms |url-status=live |access-date=December 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181128110855/https://www.foxnews.com/tech/after-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-gab-banned-by-paypal-suspended-by-two-other-platforms |archive-date=November 28, 2018}}</ref> and PayPal released a statement that it had it done so based on its review of accounts that may engage in the "perpetuation of hate, violence or discriminatory intolerance".<ref name="Liptak 2018">{{cite web |title=Paypal bans Gab following Pittsburgh shooting |url=https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/27/18032930/paypal-banned-gab-following-pittsburgh-shooting |last=Liptak |first=Andrew |date=October 27, 2018 |website=[[The Verge]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181028000702/https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/27/18032930/paypal-banned-gab-following-pittsburgh-shooting |archive-date=October 28, 2018 |access-date=October 27, 2018}}</ref> Later on the same day, Gab announced on Twitter that [[Joyent]], Gab's hosting provider, would terminate their service on October 29 at 9:00 am [[Eastern Time Zone|ET]]. The tweet said that the site expected to be down for weeks.<ref name="getongab 2018a">{{cite tweet |number=1056362626077220865 |user=getongab |title=Breaking: @joyent, Gab's new hosting provider, has just pulled our hosting service. They have given us until 9am on Monday to find a solution. Gab will likely be down for weeks because of this. Working on solutions. We will never give up on defending free speech for all people. |date=October 27, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181028015946/https://twitter.com/getongab/status/1056362626077220865 |archive-date=October 28, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Graham 2018">{{cite news |last=Graham |first=Chris |date=October 28, 2018 |title=What is Gab? Social media site used by Pittsburgh synagogue shooting suspect 'being forced offline' |work=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]] |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2018/10/28/gab-social-media-site-used-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-suspect |url-status=live |url-access=limited |access-date=October 28, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181028065926/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2018/10/28/gab-social-media-site-used-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-suspect/ |archive-date=October 28, 2018}}</ref><ref name="Hosting Provider Moves to Shut Down">{{cite news |date=October 28, 2018 |title=Gab's Hosting Provider Moves to Shut Down the Alt-Right Social Network |work=[[The Daily Beast]] |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/gabs-hosting-provider-moves-to-shut-down-the-alt-right-social-network |url-status=live |access-date=October 28, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181028043556/https://www.thedailybeast.com/gabs-hosting-provider-moves-to-shut-down-the-alt-right-social-network |archive-date=October 28, 2018}}</ref> Stripe and [[Backblaze]] also terminated their services with Gab after the shooting.<ref name="Bradshaw 2018">{{Cite news |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/stripe-steps-away-from-gab-network-after-synagogue-shooting-1.3678990 |title=Stripe steps away from Gab network after synagogue shooting |last=Bradshaw |first=Tim |date=October 28, 2018 |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181028233854/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/stripe-steps-away-from-gab-network-after-synagogue-shooting-1.3678990 |archive-date=October 28, 2018 |access-date=April 27, 2019}}</ref><ref name="Robertson 2018">{{Cite web |title=Gab is back online after being banned by GoDaddy, PayPal, and more |url=https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/5/18049132/gab-social-network-online-synagogue-shooting-deplatforming-return-godaddy-paypal-stripe-ban |last=Robertson |first=Adi |date=November 5, 2018 |website=[[The Verge]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190616150525/https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/5/18049132/gab-social-network-online-synagogue-shooting-deplatforming-return-godaddy-paypal-stripe-ban |archive-date=June 16, 2019 |access-date=May 28, 2019}}</ref> On October 29, Gab claimed in a tweet that they "took the site down early on purpose last night because we knew the media would take the bait and have stories on it for this morning".<ref name="Hensley 2018">{{Cite web |last=Hensley |first=Laura |date=October 29, 2018 |title=Right-wing platform Gab taken down after Pittsburgh shooting, says it's been 'smeared' by media |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/4606576/gab-com-officially-taken-offline/ |access-date=June 11, 2021 |website=Global News |language=en-US |archive-date=June 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210611004948/https://globalnews.ca/news/4606576/gab-com-officially-taken-offline/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
Following the shooting, Gab received substantial media attention, having been relatively unknown by the general public prior to the attack.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Molina |first=Brett |date=October 28, 2018 |title=What is Gab, the fringe social network used by Pittsburgh shooting suspect? |work=[[USA Today]] |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/nation-now/2018/10/28/pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-what-gab-fringe-site-used-suspect/1798862002/ |url-status=live |access-date=October 28, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181028165719/https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/nation-now/2018/10/28/pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-what-gab-fringe-site-used-suspect/1798862002/ |archive-date=October 28, 2018}}</ref> ''[[The New Republic]]'' noted that prior to the shooting: "Despite some attention in the mainstream tech press, Gab was essentially considered a sideshow, an also-ran in the social media wars, destined to fade away like Yo, [[Ello (social network)|Ello]], or other mostly forgotten platforms that could never hope to compete with Silicon Valley monopolies".<ref name="Silverman 2021">{{cite magazine |last=Silverman |first=Jacob |date=August 23, 2021 |title=The CEO Trying to Build a White, Christian, Secessionist Tech Industry |magazine=[[The New Republic]] |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/163285/andrew-torba-gab-white-christian-internet |access-date=August 25, 2021 |issn=0028-6583 |archive-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210830124254/https://newrepublic.com/article/163285/andrew-torba-gab-white-christian-internet |url-status=live }}</ref>
Gab had defended itself from criticism as a result of the shooting, saying that they: "refuse to be defined by the media's narratives about Gab and our community. Gab's mission is very simple: to defend free expression and individual liberty online for all people. Social media often brings out the best and the worst of humanity".<ref name="What Is Gab" /> Torba called the shooting "a clear act of terror", adding that he "fundamentally believed in freedom of expression", but did not tolerate threats of violence. Torba also said that "I do think that more speech is always going to be the answer to combat bad speech or hate speech".<ref name="Silverman 2021" />
Line 74 ⟶ 75:
Gab returned online on November 4, 2018, after [[Epik]] agreed to [[Domain registration|register]] the domain.<ref name="Linton 2018">{{Cite news |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gab-new-domain-host-epik-robert-bowers-pittsburgh-shooting |title=Gab gets new domain host, expects to be back online Sunday |last=Linton |first=Caroline |date=November 3, 2018 |work=[[CBS News]] |access-date=November 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181105062209/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gab-new-domain-host-epik-robert-bowers-pittsburgh-shooting/ |archive-date=November 5, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Baker 2018">{{cite news |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/business/technology/seattle-area-company-helps-fringe-site-gab-return-in-wake-of-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting/ |title=Seattle-area company helps fringe site Gab return in wake of Pittsburgh synagogue shooting |last=Baker |first=Mike |date=November 4, 2018 |work=[[The Seattle Times]] |access-date=May 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505044026/https://www.seattletimes.com/business/technology/seattle-area-company-helps-fringe-site-gab-return-in-wake-of-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting/ |archive-date=May 5, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Rob Monster]], the CEO of Epik, had defended Gab's neo-Nazi users and also baselessly claimed that neo-Nazis on Gab are "liberal trolls" looking to "give enemies of freedom an excuse". On Gab, [[Christopher Cantwell]] replied to Monster's claims, stating: "We're not liberals, nor are the people trying to get us censored. The people trying to censor Gab are [[Triple parentheses|(]](([[Jewish Bolshevism|communists]]))), and the Nazis are the only ones willing to take them on{{nbsp}}... Eventually, everyone will have to pick a side".<ref>{{cite news |last=Schulberg |first=Jessica |date=December 18, 2018 |title=The Bible-Thumping Tech CEO Who's Proud Of Keeping Neo-Nazis Online |work=[[HuffPost]] |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rob-monster-epik-gab-neo-nazi_n_5c17bb29e4b05d7e5d846f72 |url-status=live |access-date=December 24, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224234529/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rob-monster-epik-gab-neo-nazi_us_5c17bb29e4b05d7e5d846f72 |archive-date=December 24, 2018}}</ref> Monster also said of Gab that "I do believe the guys that are on the site are vigilant".<ref name="Baker 2018" />
After Gab returned online, the site was immediately flooded with antisemitic posts and comments, including one comment in response to a post from Torba welcoming back users of Gab and asking users to be nice to each other that said "Fuck that, name the Jews who are trying to shut us down". The comment was later deleted.<ref name="Gilbert 2018">{{cite web |last=Gilbert |first=David |date=November 5, 2018 |title=Gab is back online — and already flooded with anti-Semitic hate |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/3k985y/gab-anti-semitism-pittsburgh-torba |access-date=January 26, 2021 |website=Vice News |language=en |archive-date=February 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202221243/https://www.vice.com/en/article/3k985y/gab-anti-semitism-pittsburgh-torba |url-status=live }}</ref> In response to these posts and comments, Torba claimed that "a lot of people are creating brand new accounts and breaking our guidelines on purpose tonight". Torba also called on users of Gab to help police the site for posts that break Gab's user guidelines, including threats of violence.<ref name="Gilbert 2018" />
===2019===
Line 91 ⟶ 92:
In October 2019,<ref name="Rye 2020">{{Cite book |last1=Rye |first1=Erik |last2=Blackburn |first2=Jeremy |last3=Beverly |first3=Robert |title=Proceedings of the ACM Internet Measurement Conference |chapter=Reading In-Between the Lines: An Analysis of Dissenter |date=2020-10-27 |pages=133–146 |doi=10.1145/3419394.3423615 |arxiv=2009.01772 |isbn=978-1-4503-8138-3 |s2cid=221743440}}</ref> Gab launched Gab Trends, a news aggregate website described by [[KNTV]] as being similar to the [[Drudge Report]].<ref name="Online News Challenge">{{cite web |date=October 24, 2019 |title=Online News Challenge: Social Network Gab Takes Aim at Drudge Report With 'Trends' |url=https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/online-news-challenge-social-network-gab-takes-aim-at-drudge-report-with-trends/1984587/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807044252/https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/online-news-challenge-social-network-gab-takes-aim-at-drudge-report-with-trends/1984587/ |archive-date=August 7, 2020 |access-date=January 23, 2021 |website=[[KNTV]] |language=en-US}}</ref> Gab Trends provides titles and short summaries of news articles and includes a comment section under each article.<ref name="Rye 2020" />
In 2019, Gab launched a browser extension called Dissenter, an aggregation and discussion service which allowed Gab users to make non-moderated comments on any webpage including news articles, YouTube videos, and individual social media posts.<ref>{{cite web|title=Gab wants to add a comments section to everything on the internet|url=https://www.cnet.com/culture/gab-wants-to-add-a-comment-section-to-everything-on-the-internet/|access-date=February 26, 2024|archive-date=February 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240222172448/https://www.cnet.com/culture/gab-wants-to-add-a-comment-section-to-everything-on-the-internet/|url-status=live}}</ref> Comments made using the Dissenter extension were outside of the webpage owner's control, and the extension could be used to comment on websites with no comment feature or where the comment sections were closed. Dissenter was criticized as an extension which "puts a far-right comments section on every site."<ref>{{cite web|title=Gab browser extension puts a far-right comments section on every site|date=March 2019|url=https://www.engadget.com/2019-03-01-gab-dissenter-comments-extension.html|access-date=February 26, 2024|archive-date=February 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240222172448/https://www.engadget.com/2019-03-01-gab-dissenter-comments-extension.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The Dissenter extension was subsequently banned from the Google and Mozilla add-on stores for violating hate-speech policies.<ref>{{cite news |title=Google Deals New Blow to Alt-Right Social Network Gab |newspaper=The Daily Beast |date=April 12, 2019 |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/google-deals-new-blow-to-alt-right-social-network-gab |last1=Sommer |first1=Will |access-date=April 13, 2019 |archive-date=April 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413004705/https://www.thedailybeast.com/google-deals-new-blow-to-alt-right-social-network-gab |url-status=live }}</ref> Following this removal, Gab created their own Dissenter browser, based on a fork of the Brave browser, which has since been discontinued.
=== 2020 ===
Line 106 ⟶ 107:
During the [[2020 United States presidential election|2020 U.S. presidential election]] in November, Gab claimed that they experienced record user growth.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Isaac |first1=Mike |last2=Browning |first2=Kellen |date=November 11, 2020 |title=Fact-Checked on Facebook and Twitter, Conservatives Switch Their Apps |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/11/technology/parler-rumble-newsmax.html |access-date=January 19, 2021 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=November 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114212319/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/11/technology/parler-rumble-newsmax.html |url-status=live |url-access=limited}}</ref>
In December 2020, ''[[Engineering & Technology]]'' reported that Gab and other similar platforms could face "huge fines" for spreading [[misinformation]] under a new online safety bill in the United Kingdom that was planning on being introduced in 2021.<ref>{{cite web |last=Loughran |first=Jack |date=December 18, 2020 |title=Social platforms like Gab and 4Chan could face huge fines for misinformation spread |url=https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2020/12/social-platforms-like-gab-and-4chan-could-face-huge-fines-for-misinformation-spread/ |access-date=January 25, 2021 |website=[[Engineering & Technology]] |language=en-US |archive-date=January 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125050517/https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2020/12/social-platforms-like-gab-and-4chan-could-face-huge-fines-for-misinformation-spread/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
In late 2020, Torba posted on Gab's blog that the company "Welcomes QAnon Across Its Platforms".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jasser |first=Greta |date=November 27, 2020 |title=The social media platform that welcomes QAnon with open arms |url=https://www.radicalrightanalysis.com/2020/11/27/the-social-media-platform-that-welcomes-qanon-with-open-arms/ |access-date=June 1, 2021 |website=[[Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right]] |language=en-GB |archive-date=February 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201202817/https://www.radicalrightanalysis.com/2020/11/27/the-social-media-platform-that-welcomes-qanon-with-open-arms/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
=== 2021 ===
Line 114 ⟶ 115:
Although early claims were made that Gab was among the platforms used to plan the storming of the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,<ref name="Allyn 2021">{{Cite news |last=Allyn |first=Bobby |date=January 17, 2021 |title=Social Media Site Gab Is Surging, Even As Critics Blame It For Capitol Violence |url=https://www.npr.org/2021/01/17/957512634/social-media-site-gab-is-surging-even-as-critics-blame-it-for-capitol-violence |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122204331/https://www.npr.org/2021/01/17/957512634/social-media-site-gab-is-surging-even-as-critics-blame-it-for-capitol-violence |archive-date=January 22, 2021 |access-date=January 17, 2021 |website=[[NPR]] |language=en}}</ref> a later investigation by the FBI said it "found scant evidence that the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was the result of an organized plot to overturn the presidential election result", and that "ninety to ninety-five percent of these are one-off cases".<ref>{{cite news |last=Hosenball |first=Mark |date=August 20, 2021 |title=Exclusive: FBI finds scant evidence U.S. Capitol attack was coordinated sources |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-fbi-finds-scant-evidence-us-capitol-attack-was-coordinated-sources-2021-08-20/ |url-status=live |access-date=August 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210820183156/https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-fbi-finds-scant-evidence-us-capitol-attack-was-coordinated-sources-2021-08-20/ |archive-date=August 20, 2021}}</ref> {{dubious|date=December 2023}}
Posts about which streets to take in order to run from [[police]], which tools to use to pry open doors, and carrying guns into the [[United States Congress|halls of Congress]], were exchanged on Gab in advance of the storming.<ref name="Frenkel 2021">{{cite news |last=Frenkel |first=Sheera |date=January 6, 2021 |title=The storming of Capitol Hill was organized on social media |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/06/us/politics/protesters-storm-capitol-hill-building.html |url-status=live |access-date=January 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210106220539/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/06/us/politics/protesters-storm-capitol-hill-building.html |archive-date=January 6, 2021 |issn=0362-4331 |url-access=limited}}</ref> During the storming, users of Gab recorded entering offices of [[List of members of the United States Congress from multiple states|members of Congress]], including the office of [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|U.S. House Speaker]] [[Nancy Pelosi]].<ref name="Frenkel 2021" /> Users of Gab also posted about searching for then-[[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] [[Mike Pence]].<ref name="Frenkel 2021" /> Following the storming and then-[[Donald Trump on social media#Permanent suspension|President Trump's subsequent permanent suspension from Twitter]], Torba said that Gab had experienced a 40% increase in traffic and that Gab was also gaining 10,000 new users per hour as of January 9.<ref name="Lonas 2021">{{Cite web |last=Lonas |first=Lexi |date=January 9, 2021 |title=Social media platform Gab gains traffic, users following Capitol riot fallout |url=https://thehill.com/policy/technology/533502-far-right-social-media-platform-gaining-traction-captiol-riots |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110061404/https://thehill.com/policy/technology/533502-far-right-social-media-platform-gaining-traction-captiol-riots |archive-date=January 10, 2021 |access-date=January 9, 2021 |website=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Stimson |first=Brie |date=January 10, 2021 |title=Gab gaining 10,000 users per hour, CEO claims, after Trump's permanent Twitter suspension |url=https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/gab-usership-surges-following-trumps-permanent-twitter-suspension |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122204331/https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/gab-usership-surges-following-trumps-permanent-twitter-suspension |archive-date=January 22, 2021 |access-date=January 10, 2021 |website=FOX Business |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Vallejo |first=Justin |date=February 6, 2021 |title=What is Gab? Inside the fast-growing Twitter competitor that has become a refuge for Trump and his supporters |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-gab-account-what-is-it-b1798516.html |access-date=February 6, 2021 |website=[[The Independent]] |language=en |archive-date=February 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206015220/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-gab-account-what-is-it-b1798516.html |url-status=live }}</ref> After Parler, another alt-tech social network, was pulled offline by its host [[Amazon Web Services]] on January 11, former users of that site started migrating to Gab.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wilson |first1=Jason |date=January 13, 2021 |title=Rightwingers flock to 'alt tech' networks as mainstream sites ban Trump |language=en |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/13/social-media-trump-ban-alt-tech-far-right |access-date=January 13, 2021 |archive-date=January 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113081732/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/13/social-media-trump-ban-alt-tech-far-right |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Parker 2021">{{Cite web |last=Parker |first=Bryan C. |date=January 15, 2021 |title=The next Parler: I tried four apps attracting right-wing users |url=https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/parler-replacement-rumble-mewe-telegram-wimkin-15871616.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116212645/https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/parler-replacement-rumble-mewe-telegram-wimkin-15871616.php |archive-date=January 16, 2021 |access-date=January 16, 2021 |website=[[SFGate]] |language=en-US}}</ref> On January 14, Gab claimed on Twitter that the platform had gained 2.3{{Nbsp}}million new users in the past week.<ref name="Goodwin 2021">{{cite web |last=Goodwin |first=Jazmin |date=January 17, 2021 |title=Gab: Everything you need to know about the fast-growing, controversial social network |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/17/tech/what-is-gab-explainer/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210117212941/https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/17/tech/what-is-gab-explainer/index.html |archive-date=January 17, 2021 |access-date=January 18, 2021 |website=CNN}}</ref> Gab's website experienced an 800% increase in traffic, which forced Torba to order emergency servers to handle the increase in traffic.<ref name="Allyn 2021" />
On January 12, ''[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]]'' reported that experts said that conservative-leaning social networks, including Gab, helped create [[Echo chamber (media)|echo chambers]] for extremist and violent views, which contributed to the Capitol storming.<ref>{{cite web |last=Romero |first=Laura |date=January 12, 2021 |title=Experts say echo chambers from apps like Parler and Gab contributed to attack on Capitol |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/experts-echo-chambers-apps-parler-gab-contributed-attack/story?id=75141014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113154444/https://abcnews.go.com/US/experts-echo-chambers-apps-parler-gab-contributed-attack/story?id=75141014 |archive-date=January 13, 2021 |access-date=January 17, 2021 |website=ABC News |language=en}}</ref>
Line 120 ⟶ 121:
After the Capitol storming, on January 13, the [[Anti-Defamation League]] (ADL) in an [[open letter]] to the [[United States Department of Justice]] called for a federal investigation into Gab and Torba to determine if they "intentionally aided" the individuals who were involved in the storming. The ADL cited posts from Torba telling users of Gab "heading to [[Washington, D.C.|DC]]" to record "video footage in landscape mode" in anticipation of "[[Communism|communist]] violence" and also posted on Gab that it "would be a real shame if the people outside stormed the Senate".<ref name="McEvoy 2021" /><ref name="Criminal Investigation" /><ref name="Torba 2021b" />
In response, Torba denied he and his platform were responsible for the storming, saying that Gab did a "phenomenal job" of mitigating violent content. He also stated that Gab had been removing offending posts and reporting them to [[Federal law enforcement in the United States|federal law enforcement]] leading up to the storming, saying that "Public safety is our top priority", but declined to say which [[law enforcement agency]] they were working with, citing an "ongoing investigation". Torba also deflected attention away from Gab and towards Facebook, saying that the storming was "organized using Facebook's technology, not Gab's". Torba signed off on his response to the ADL by saying that "We will never bend to their demands and we will never censor legal, [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|1A-protected speech]] that hurts the ADL's feelings. Ever" and that "[[Jesus]] is King."<ref name="McEvoy 2021">{{Cite web |last=McEvoy |first=Jemima |date=January 14, 2021 |title=Gab CEO Denies Responsibility For Capitol Attack Amid Increased Scrutiny |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2021/01/14/gab-ceo-denies-responsibility-for-capitol-attack-amid-increased-scrutiny/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210117005338/https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2021/01/14/gab-ceo-denies-responsibility-for-capitol-attack-amid-increased-scrutiny/ |archive-date=January 17, 2021 |access-date=January 16, 2021 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Criminal Investigation">{{Cite web |date=January 13, 2021 |title=Open Letter to the U.S. Department of Justice: ADL Calls for a Criminal Investigation of Gab |url=https://www.adl.org/news/open-letter-to-the-us-department-of-justice-adl-calls-for-a-criminal-investigation-of-gab |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116040012/https://www.adl.org/news/open-letter-to-the-us-department-of-justice-adl-calls-for-a-criminal-investigation-of-gab |archive-date=January 16, 2021 |access-date=January 16, 2021 |website=[[Anti-Defamation League]] |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Torba 2021b">{{Cite web |last=Torba |first=Andrew |date=January 13, 2021 |title=Gab's Response To The ADL and CNN |url=https://news.gab.com/2021/01/13/gabs-response-to-the-adl-and-cnn/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116193252/https://news.gab.com/2021/01/13/gabs-response-to-the-adl-and-cnn/ |archive-date=January 16, 2021 |access-date=January 17, 2021 |website=Gab News |publisher=Gab |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="Field 2021">{{Cite web |last=Field |first=Matt |date=February 9, 2021 |title=As Trump's impeachment trial begins, the Russian network that helped him in 2016 taps his supporters on Gab.com |url=https://thebulletin.org/2021/02/as-trumps-impeachment-trial-begins-the-russian-network-that-helped-him-in-2016-taps-his-supporters-on-gab-com/ |access-date=February 10, 2021 |website=[[Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]] |language=en-US |archive-date=February 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210220940/https://thebulletin.org/2021/02/as-trumps-impeachment-trial-begins-the-russian-network-that-helped-him-in-2016-taps-his-supporters-on-gab-com/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Boigon 2021" />
ADL CEO [[Jonathan Greenblatt]] said in response: "It's ironic that, when called out for enabling extremist rhetoric, Gab's response is to craft" a letter "containing thinly veiled antisemitism", adding that "As our open letter makes clear, Gab is not moderating this extremist content, and their CEO seems to be encouraging users to upload it".<ref name="Boigon 2021" />
Line 129 ⟶ 130:
On February 9, Matt Field from the ''[[Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]]'' reported that [[RT (TV network)|RT]], a media outlet owned by the [[Government of Russia|Russian government]] that Field claims helped Trump win the 2016 presidential election, had created an account on Gab right before the start of Trump's [[Second impeachment trial of Donald Trump|second impeachment trial]].<ref name="Field 2021" /> Field noted that RT had posted several articles on their Gab account, including one article criticizing [[The Lincoln Project]], an organization run by [[Protests against Donald Trump|anti-Trump]] Republicans.<ref name="Field 2021" />
On August 27, the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]] [[United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack|select committee]] investigating the storming of the Capitol demanded records from Gab (alongside 14 other social media companies) going back to the spring of 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Breuninger |first1=Kevin |last2=Wilkie |first2=Christina |date=August 27, 2021 |title=Congressional panel investigating Jan. 6 insurrection demands records from Facebook, Twitter, other tech firms |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/27/congressional-committee-investigating-jan-6-insurrection-demands-records-from-facebook-twitter-and-other-tech-giants.html |access-date=August 30, 2021 |website=CNBC |language=en |archive-date=August 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210827184430/https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/27/congressional-committee-investigating-jan-6-insurrection-demands-records-from-facebook-twitter-and-other-tech-giants.html |url-status=live }}</ref> On September 1, Torba responded by refusing to cooperate with the investigation, saying that Gab does not track misinformation or disinformation, has no retention policies, keeps no records of internal discussion about concerns of an insurrection, and has no way of knowing that an account is run by a foreign government. Torba and Gab also refused to hand over private user communications to the select committee (communications that Gab has already shared with law enforcement), arguing that the U.S. Congress would need a [[subpoena]] or [[Warranty|warrant]] under the [[Stored Communications Act]] (SCA).<ref name="Kimball 2021">{{Cite web |last=Kimball |first=Whitney |date=September 2, 2021 |title=Gab to Congress: You're Gonna Need a Warrant for That or You Know, Talk to DOJ or Something |url=https://gizmodo.com/gab-to-congress-you-re-gonna-need-a-warrant-for-that-o-1847607826 |access-date=September 6, 2021 |website=Gizmodo |language=en-us |archive-date=September 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210908023913/https://gizmodo.com/gab-to-congress-you-re-gonna-need-a-warrant-for-that-o-1847607826 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Torba |first=Andrew |date=September 1, 2021 |title=Gab.com's Response to Congress |url=https://news.gab.com/2021/09/01/gab-coms-response-to-congress/ |access-date=September 6, 2021 |website=Gab News |publisher=Gab |language=en-US |archive-date=September 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210906193211/https://news.gab.com/2021/09/01/gab-coms-response-to-congress/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Also in September 2021, Whitney Kimball of ''[[Gizmodo]]'' noted that Gab "might not even agree that an insurrection happened at all", noting an email from the company titled "New Video From Jan 6th Destroys 'Insurrection' Hoax".<ref name="Kimball 2021" />
In late September, the Federal Office of Justice in [[Bonn]], [[Germany]] imposed a fine of [[Euro sign|€]]30,000 on Gab for not naming a contact person for questions about the deletion of criminal content, despite a provision from the [[Network Enforcement Act]]. Gab has objected to the fine. In a blog post, Torba accused the German authorities of having no intention of removing criminal content and did not mention that the fine was imposed for not naming a contact person. Torba also asked for financial support to combat the fine.<ref>{{cite web |last=Holland |first=Martin |date=September 27, 2021 |title=Twitter-Alternative für Rechte: Bußgeldbescheid wegen NetzDG gegen Gab |url=https://www.heise.de/news/Twitter-Alternative-fuer-Rechte-Bussgeldbescheid-wegen-NetzDG-gegen-Gab-6201870.html |access-date=September 30, 2021 |website=heise online |language=de |archive-date=October 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006104536/https://www.heise.de/news/Twitter-Alternative-fuer-Rechte-Bussgeldbescheid-wegen-NetzDG-gegen-Gab-6201870.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
Also in late September, Torba announced that the Gab website's online infrastructure would be upgraded to "preserve a parallel Christian society on the internet for generations to come".<ref name="Jenkins 2021">{{cite news |last=Jenkins |first=Jack |date=October 19, 2021 |title=Christian nationalists seek a 'parallel' digital world to skirt the power of Big Tech |language=en-US |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2021/10/19/christian-nationalism-social-media-gab/ |access-date=October 20, 2021 |issn=0190-8286 |url-access=limited |archive-date=October 19, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019155223/https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2021/10/19/christian-nationalism-social-media-gab/ |url-status=live }}</ref> On September 22, Torba wrote that "Our vision for Gabvertising and the parallel economy we are building is to empower families and freedom-loving business owners to free themselves from the slavery of [[Woke]] Capital" and that "The natural evolution of free speech is [[free market]]s, and that's what is forming right now on Gab. An actual free market, not one rigged by a handful [[Globalism|globalist]] big bankers and hedge funds".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Saliong |first=Sarah Mae |date=September 24, 2021 |title=Christian CEO Announces 'Beginnings Of A Parallel Economy' Free From Big Tech And Other Like Systems |url=https://www.christianitydaily.com/articles/13389/20210924/ceo-announces-beginnings-of-a-parallel-economy-for-christians.htm |access-date=March 12, 2022 |website=Christianity Daily |archive-date=November 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211104222737/https://www.christianitydaily.com/articles/13389/20210924/ceo-announces-beginnings-of-a-parallel-economy-for-christians.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Torba |first=Andrew |date=September 22, 2021 |title=The Beginnings of a New Parallel Economy On Gab |url=https://news.gab.com/2021/09/22/the-beginnings-of-a-new-parallel-economy-on-gab/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220102210507/https://news.gab.com/2021/09/22/the-beginnings-of-a-new-parallel-economy-on-gab/ |archive-date=January 2, 2022 |access-date=March 12, 2022 |website=Gab News |publisher=Gab}}</ref>
====Hacks and data leaks ====
On the evening of February 19, Gab's website briefly went offline, originally without explanation.<ref name="Barrabi 2021">{{Cite web |last=Barrabi |first=Thomas |date=February 19, 2021 |title=Social media platform Gab's website, Twitter account are down |url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/social-media-platform-gabs-website-twitter-account-down |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210220014633/https://www.foxnews.com/politics/social-media-platform-gabs-website-twitter-account-down |archive-date=February 20, 2021 |access-date=February 20, 2021 |website=[[Fox News]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="Gab Back Online">{{cite web |title=Social network Gab back online after bitcoin scam |url=https://www.cnet.com/news/social-network-gab-back-online-after-bitcoin-scam/ |access-date=February 20, 2021 |website=CNET |language=en |archive-date=February 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210220170802/https://www.cnet.com/news/social-network-gab-back-online-after-bitcoin-scam/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In response, several Twitter users posted images showing Gab accounts run by right-wing media outlets, such as ''[[The Gateway Pundit]]'' and ''[[National File]]'', asking people to donate funds to a suspicious URL.<ref name="Villarreal 2021">{{cite web |last=Villarreal |first=Daniel |date=February 19, 2021 |title=Social network Gab goes offline, disappears from Twitter |url=https://www.newsweek.com/social-network-gab-goes-offline-disappears-twitter-1570693 |access-date=February 21, 2021 |website=Newsweek |language=en |archive-date=February 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210220145345/https://www.newsweek.com/social-network-gab-goes-offline-disappears-twitter-1570693 |url-status=live }}</ref> After the site was restored, Torba responded in a blog post saying that Gab themselves had taken the site offline at around 6:25 pm [[Eastern Standard Time|EST]], sixteen minutes after they "became aware of several accounts that were posting [[bitcoin]] wallet spam and related content".<ref name="Gab Back Online" /><ref name="Shalvey 2021">{{cite news |last=Shalvey |first=Kevin |date=February 20, 2021 |title=Social network Gab says it briefly took itself offline to fix a bitcoin spam problem affecting 'fewer than 20' of its accounts |work=[[Business Insider]] |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/gab-social-network-says-it-went-offline-stop-bitcoin-spammers-2021-2 |access-date=March 2, 2021 |archive-date=February 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210221165835/https://www.businessinsider.com/gab-social-network-says-it-went-offline-stop-bitcoin-spammers-2021-2 |url-status=live }}</ref> According to Torba, fewer than 20 accounts were affected, Gab "have no indication that any sensitive account information was breached or accessed by any unauthorized users", and that "Because of our quick action zero bitcoin was sent".<ref name="Gab Back Online" /><ref name="Shalvey 2021" /> Torba did not specify which accounts were affected.<ref name="Shalvey 2021" /> Torba also said that Gab had "identified and patched a security vulnerability in our codebase" and that "Our engineering team is conducting a full audit of our logs and infrastructure".<ref name="Gab Back Online" />
On February 26, around a week after Gab briefly went offline, the company published a blog post denying a [[data breach]] had taken place. In the post, they wrote that they had been contacted by unnamed reporters who asked about a data breach that may have exposed an archive of posts, [[Private message|direct messages]], profiles, and [[Password|hashed passwords]] on Gab.<ref name="Lawler 2021">{{cite web |last=Lawler |first=Richard |date=February 26, 2021 |title=Right-wing site Gab responds to 'alleged' data breach |url=https://www.engadget.com/gab-data-breach-ddosecrets-231959411.html |access-date=March 2, 2021 |website=[[Engadget]] |archive-date=March 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302021936/https://www.engadget.com/gab-data-breach-ddosecrets-231959411.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Torba 2021a">{{cite web |last=Torba |first=Andrew |date=February 26, 2021 |title=Alleged Data Breach – 26 February 2021 |url=https://news.gab.com/2021/02/26/alleged-data-breach-26-february-2021/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227114054/https://news.gab.com/2021/02/26/alleged-data-breach-26-february-2021/ |archive-date=February 27, 2021 |access-date=February 27, 2021 |website=Gab News |publisher=Gab |language=en-US}}</ref> Torba wrote in the blog post that there was no independent confirmation that a breach had taken place, and that Gab collects "very little from our users in terms of personal information". He also accused the reporters of working with a hacker to hurt the company and its users.<ref name="Lawler 2021" /><ref name="Torba 2021a" /> However, a reporter linked to DDoSecrets tweeted "Yes, we have the data" and promised more information "soon enough".<ref name="Lawler 2021" />
On February 28, DDoSecrets revealed "GabLeaks", a collection of more than 70 gigabytes of data from Gab, including more than 40 million posts, passwords, private messages, and other leaked information.<ref name="Greenberg 2021">{{cite magazine |last=Greenberg |first=Andy |date=February 28, 2021 |title=Far-Right Platform Gab Has Been Hacked—Including Private Data |magazine=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/story/gab-hack-data-breach-ddosecrets/ |access-date=March 1, 2021 |archive-date=March 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301020357/https://www.wired.com/story/gab-hack-data-breach-ddosecrets/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The data was given to the group by a [[Hacktivism|hacktivist]] self-identifying as "JaXpArO and My Little Anonymous Revival Project", who retrieved the data from Gab's [[back-end database]]s to expose the platform's largely right-wing userbase.<ref name="Greenberg 2021" /> DDoSecrets co-founder Emma Best called GabLeaks "another gold mine of research for people looking at [[militia]]s, neo-Nazis, the far right, QAnon and everything surrounding January 6".<ref name="Greenberg 2021" /> DDoSecrets said that they would not release the data publicly due to the data containing a large amount of private and sensitive information and will instead share the data with select [[journalist]]s, [[Social science|social scientists]], and researchers.<ref name="Greenberg 2021" /> Andy Greenberg from [[Wired (magazine)|''Wired'']] confirmed that the data "does appear to contain Gab users' individual and group profiles—their descriptions and privacy settings—public and private posts, and passwords".<ref name="Greenberg 2021" />
In response, Torba acknowledged the data breach, said that his Gab account had been "compromised", and that "the entire company is all hands investigating what happened and working to trace and patch the problem".<ref name="Greenberg 2021" /> He also used a [[Transphobia|transphobic]] slur to insult the hackers "attacking" Gab and referred to them as "demon hackers".<ref name="Greenberg 2021" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Dean |first=Grace |date=March 1, 2021 |title=The CEO of far-right social media site Gab said it was under attack from 'demon hackers.' The hacker threatened to leak passwords and private messages from 15,000 users. |work=[[Business Insider]] |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/gab-hacked-hack-andrew-torba-far-right-demon-hackers-2021-3 |access-date=March 2, 2021 |archive-date=March 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302012449/https://www.businessinsider.com/gab-hacked-hack-andrew-torba-far-right-demon-hackers-2021-3 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Murdock 2021a">{{Cite news |last=Murdock |first=Jason |date=March 2, 2021 |title=Gab CEO Andrew Torba Condemns Threats of Violence Against Social Network's Hackers |work=Newsweek |url=https://www.newsweek.com/gab-hack-ceo-andrew-torba-condemns-threats-violence-against-social-network-attackers-1573148 |access-date=March 4, 2021 |archive-date=March 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304034906/https://www.newsweek.com/gab-hack-ceo-andrew-torba-condemns-threats-violence-against-social-network-attackers-1573148 |url-status=live }}</ref> On March 1, Torba revealed in a post on Gab's blog that the company had received a [[Ransom|ransom demand]] of $500,000 in Bitcoin for the data, and wrote in response that they would not be paying it.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mihalcik |first=Carrie |date=March 1, 2021 |title=Social network Gab hacked, hit with $500,000 ransom demand |work=CNET |url=https://www.cnet.com/news/social-network-gab-hacked-hit-with-500000-ransom-demand/ |access-date=March 3, 2021 |archive-date=March 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303004012/https://www.cnet.com/news/social-network-gab-hacked-hit-with-500000-ransom-demand/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Torba |first=Andrew |date=March 1, 2021 |title=Gab Does Not Negotiate With Criminal Demons |url=https://news.gab.com/2021/03/01/gab-does-not-negotiate-with-criminal-demons/ |access-date=March 3, 2021 |website=Gab News |archive-date=March 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302203657/https://news.gab.com/2021/03/01/gab-does-not-negotiate-with-criminal-demons/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Also on March 1, Torba said in a Gab post that "I want to make clear that we have zero tolerance for any threats of violence including against the wicked people who are attacking Gab. We need to pray for these people. I am."<ref>{{cite web |last=Murdock |first=Jason |date=March 2, 2021 |title=Gab CEO Andrew Torba condemns threats of violence against social network's hackers |url=https://www.newsweek.com/gab-hack-ceo-andrew-torba-condemns-threats-violence-against-social-network-attackers-1573148 |access-date=October 2, 2021 |website=Newsweek |language=en |archive-date=October 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008115858/https://www.newsweek.com/gab-hack-ceo-andrew-torba-condemns-threats-violence-against-social-network-attackers-1573148 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Dan Goodin reported in ''[[Ars Technica]]'' on March 2 that Gab's CTO, Fosco Marotto, had in February introduced a [[SQL injection|SQL vulnerability]] that may have led to the data breach, and that Gab had subsequently scrubbed the commit from [[Git]] history. The company had previously open sourced Gab's source code in a Git repository which included all historical commits; on March 1, they took the repository offline and replaced it with a [[ZIP (file format)|zipfile]] that did not include commit history.<ref name="Goodin 2021">{{Cite web |last=Goodin |first=Dan |date=March 2, 2021 |title=Rookie coding mistake prior to Gab hack came from site's CTO |url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/03/rookie-coding-mistake-prior-to-gab-hack-came-from-sites-cto/ |access-date=March 2, 2021 |website=Ars Technica |language=en-us |archive-date=March 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302192641/https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/03/rookie-coding-mistake-prior-to-gab-hack-came-from-sites-cto/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
On March 8, JaXpArO again compromised verified accounts on Gab, posting a message to their feeds addressed to Torba, which said the service had been "fully compromised" the previous week and accused him of lying to Gab's users.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Adam |date=March 9, 2021 |title=Gab: Far-right social network taken offline in second hack as attacker insults 'despicable users' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/gab-offline-hack-twitter-security-b1814489.html |access-date=March 9, 2021 |website=[[The Independent]] |language=en |archive-date=March 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309155743/https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/gab-offline-hack-twitter-security-b1814489.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Gab briefly went offline again the same day, and the company wrote on Twitter that they had taken their site offline "to investigate a security breach".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hodjat |first=Arya |date=March 9, 2021 |title=Far-Right Social Media Platform Gab Goes Offline Over 'Security Breach,' Gets Mad on Twitter |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/far-right-social-media-platform-gab-goes-offline-over-security-breach-gets-mad-on-twitter |access-date=March 9, 2021 |website=The Daily Beast |language=en |archive-date=March 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309050945/https://www.thedailybeast.com/far-right-social-media-platform-gab-goes-offline-over-security-breach-gets-mad-on-twitter |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Kan |first=Michael |date=March 9, 2021 |title=Gab Social Network Briefly Shuts Down After Hacker Strikes Again |url=https://www.pcmag.com/news/gab-social-network-briefly-shut-downs-after-hacker-strikes-again |access-date=March 9, 2021 |website=[[PC Magazine]] |language=en |archive-date=March 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309195119/https://www.pcmag.com/news/gab-social-network-briefly-shut-downs-after-hacker-strikes-again |url-status=live }}</ref> Torba posted a statement in response to the attack, claiming that "The attacker who stole data from Gab harvested [[OAuth|OAuth2]] bearer tokens during their initial attack" and that "Though their ability to harvest new tokens was patched, we did not clear all tokens related to the original attack. By reusing these old tokens, the attacker was able to post 177 statuses in an 8-minute period today".<ref>{{cite web |last=Goodin |first=Dan |date=March 9, 2021 |title=Gab, a haven for pro-Trump conspiracy theories, has been hacked again |url=https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/03/gab-a-haven-for-pro-trump-conspiracy-theories-has-been-hacked-again/ |access-date=September 1, 2021 |website=Ars Technica |language=en-us |archive-date=September 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901204100/https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/03/gab-a-haven-for-pro-trump-conspiracy-theories-has-been-hacked-again/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
In May, ''[[The Intercept]]'' used GabLeaks to solicit donations. Former ''Intercept'' reporter [[Glenn Greenwald]] criticized the publication for exploiting what he called an invasion of privacy, which he said contrasted with ''The Intercept''<nowiki/>'s origins during the [[Global surveillance disclosures (2013–present)|Snowden leaks]].<ref name="Wulfsohn 2021">{{cite web |last=Wulfsohn |first=Joseph |date=May 4, 2021 |title=Glenn Greenwald rips former Intercept colleagues as 'liberal DNC hacks' for seizing data dump of Gab users |url=https://www.foxnews.com/media/glenn-greenwald-the-intercept-gab-users |access-date=May 6, 2021 |website=Fox News |language=en-US |archive-date=August 19, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210819233724/https://www.foxnews.com/media/glenn-greenwald-the-intercept-gab-users |url-status=live }}</ref> In response, a spokesperson for ''The Intercept'' said that "We do not apologize for our interest in reporting on [[Fascism|fascist]] activity."<ref name="Wulfsohn 2021" />
In early December, Torba claimed that Gab's [[Back-end database|back-end]] system was under a cyberattack by "[[Pornography|porn]] bots". Torba called it "the most sophisticated attack we have seen in five years", adding that "the timing of it is incredibly interesting given that Truth Social and [[Rumble (website)|Rumble]] both raised a boatload of cash this week from hedge funds to compete with Gab". On December 4, Torba said that "All new Gab accounts must now be manually approved by our team until further notice". According to ''The Daily Beast'', "It is unclear whether such a cyberattack took place or what specific "bots" the Gab CEO was referring to, but a casual search of the platform did show numerous accounts advertising "escort" services."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Petrizzo |first=Zachary |date=December 6, 2021 |title=Far-Right Site Blames MAGA Rivals for Its 'Porn Bot' Problem |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/gab-founder-andrew-torba-suggests-trump-and-rumble-behind-porn-bot-problem |access-date=December 6, 2021 |website=[[The Daily Beast]] |archive-date=December 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211206223410/https://www.thedailybeast.com/gab-founder-andrew-torba-suggests-trump-and-rumble-behind-porn-bot-problem |url-status=live }}</ref>
=== 2022 ===
On January 24, 2022, Torba announced that Gab would sponsor the [[America First Political Action Conference]] (AFPAC) run by white nationalist commentator [[Nick Fuentes]]. Torba also criticized the [[Conservative Political Action Conference]] and Turning Point USA, saying that "CPAC is sponsored by Facebook and [[Google]] among other billionaires" and "TPUSA is sponsored by [[Atheism|atheist]] libertarian billionaires." Torba has also entered into a partnership with Fuentes' [[Livestreaming|livestreaming service]]. Torba received backlash from Gab users over the sponsorship, with many pointing out that Fuentes had recently made harsh comments about Gab users, including one comment calling users "fucking retarded" and another comment stating: "Average IQ on Gab is like 50". Many of Gab's donors said that they would stop funding Gab. In response to the backlash, Torba said that "Controversy is attention. Attention is influence" and that "The point of marketing is to influence people to get off [[Big Tech]] and get on Gab. In order to do that I need their attention."<ref name="Goforth 2022a">{{Cite web |last=Goforth |first=Claire |date=January 25, 2022 |title=Gab users are furious after its CEO announces partnership with notorious white nationalist |url=https://www.dailydot.com/debug/gab-sponsoring-white-nationalist-nick-fuentes-conference/ |access-date=January 29, 2022 |website=The Daily Dot |language=en-US |archive-date=January 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220127082728/https://www.dailydot.com/debug/gab-sponsoring-white-nationalist-nick-fuentes-conference/ |url-status=live }}</ref> It was later announced that Torba would be a guest speaker at the AFPAC.<ref name="Kaplan 2022">{{Cite web |last=Kaplan |first=Alex |date=February 18, 2022 |title=The growing links between Gab CEO Andrew Torba and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes |url=https://www.mediamatters.org/gab/growing-links-between-gab-ceo-andrew-torba-and-holocaust-denier-nick-fuentes |access-date=February 18, 2022 |website=[[Media Matters for America]] |language=en |archive-date=February 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220223232934/https://www.mediamatters.org/gab/growing-links-between-gab-ceo-andrew-torba-and-holocaust-denier-nick-fuentes |url-status=live }}</ref> Torba also created an account on Fuentes' livestreaming service.<ref name="Kaplan 2022" />
In March 2022, ''Vice News'' reported that RT had started a channel on Gab's video sharing platform Gab TV, which describes itself as a "free speech broadcasting platform." ''Vice News'' also noted Torba's support for [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine|Russia's invasion of Ukraine]] and Torba publicly supporting RT, claiming that they are being subject to the same censorship as American conservatives "by Big Tech and the globalist regime". Torba also falsely claimed that Gab is "the one place on the internet where you can find RT News" when RT also has a presence on video sharing platform Rumble.<ref name="Gilbert 2022">{{Cite web |last=Gilbert |first=David |date=March 15, 2022 |title=Russian State TV Has Found a New Home on Gab |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/dypepw/rt-news-gab-social |access-date=March 16, 2022 |website=Vice News |language=en |archive-date=March 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220317223107/https://www.vice.com/en/article/dypepw/rt-news-gab-social |url-status=live }}</ref>
In April 2022, Torba offered [[Elon Musk]] a board seat along with equity in Gab in exchange for Musk selling his Twitter shares and investing $2 billion into Gab. This came after Musk sent Twitter an offer to buy the entire company for $43 billion.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Vlamis |first=Kelsey |date=2022-04-16 |title=Right-wing social media site Gab said Elon Musk should drop his bid to buy Twitter and invest $2 billion in them instead if he really cares about free speech |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/gab-elon-musk-drop-twitter-bid-invest-2-billion-gab-2022-4 |access-date=2022-04-16 |website=Business Insider |language=en-US}}</ref> Also in April, Torba made another offer to Musk, saying "What we are missing at the moment is an [[Internet service provider|ISP]]. I fear that the next big leap of censorship is at the ISP level, with ISP's blocking access to Gab.com. You solve that problem with [[Starlink]]. Together we can build infrastructure for a free speech internet."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bode |first=Karl |date=2022-04-19 |title=Gab CEO Ironically Pines For Net Neutrality |url=https://www.techdirt.com/2022/04/19/gab-ceo-ironically-pines-for-net-neutrality/ |access-date=2022-04-20 |website=[[Techdirt]] |language=en-US}}</ref>
On May 15, 2022, after the [[2022 Buffalo shooting|Buffalo shooting]] that killed seven Black people, Torba told his followers that procreation is the best solution to the [[Great Replacement|great replacement]] and [[White genocide conspiracy theory|White genocide]] conspiracy theories.<ref name="Dias 2022">{{cite news |last1=Dias |first1=Elizabeth |date=July 8, 2022 |title=The Far-Right Christian Quest for Power: 'We Are Seeing Them Emboldened' |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/08/us/christian-nationalism-politicians.html |quote=The best way to stop White genocide and White replacement, both of which are demonstrably and undeniably happening, is to get married to a White woman and have a lot of White babies. |url-access=limited |access-date=July 8, 2022 |archive-date=November 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221102130729/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/08/us/christian-nationalism-politicians.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
In an email to ''The New York Times'' regarding a July 2022 article about the rise of white [[Christian nationalism]], Torba wrote, "Jesus Christ is King of Kings and we are going to lawfully, peacefully, and democratically take back this country and our culture in his name" and that "[t]here is absolutely nothing you or any of the other powers and principalities can do to stop us."<ref name="Dias 2022" />
In 2022, Gab launched GabPay as an alternative to [[PayPal]]. ''[[St. Louis Jewish Light]]'' noted that "GabPay is more than just an app, though. It's part of a larger project: an attempt to build an entirely parallel Christian economy, Christian internet and, eventually, Christian nationalist country." After PayPal appeared to allow for fining users up to $2500 for posting misinformation, which it later retracted as unintended, Torba thanked it for sending him "tens of thousands" of new GabPay users.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Lima-Strong|first1=Cristiano|others=Research by Aaron Schaffer|title=PayPal faces backlash after floating fines for sharing misinformation|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/10/paypal-faces-backlash-after-floating-fines-sharing-misinformation/|work=The Washington Post|date=October 10, 2022|access-date=July 6, 2024|archive-date=March 31, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331210357/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/10/paypal-faces-backlash-after-floating-fines-sharing-misinformation/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Fox 2022a">{{Cite web |last=Fox |first=Mira |date=2022-10-16 |title=Antisemitic social media site Gab, ready to fund an alt-right Christian nationalist America |url=https://forward.com/culture/521336/gab-gabpay-paypal-andrew-torba-christian-nationalist/ |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=[[St. Louis Jewish Light]] |archive-date=July 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230715164019/https://forward.com/culture/521336/gab-gabpay-paypal-andrew-torba-christian-nationalist/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
==== Doug Mastriano's payment to Gab ====
In July 2022, Eric Hananoki of ''[[Media Matters for America]]'' revealed that [[Doug Mastriano]], Republican nominee for the [[2022 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election]], paid Gab $5,000 for "campaign consulting." on April 28, 2022. As a result of the payments, every new account on Gab automatically followed Mastriano's account.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hananoki |first=Eric |date=July 8, 2022 |title=Doug Mastriano paid for "campaign consulting" from Gab, the social media haven for violent extremists and white nationalists |url=https://www.mediamatters.org/gab/doug-mastriano-paid-campaign-consulting-gab-social-media-haven-violent-extremists-and-white |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220719030745/https://www.mediamatters.org/gab/doug-mastriano-paid-campaign-consulting-gab-social-media-haven-violent-extremists-and-white |archive-date=July 19, 2022 |access-date=July 26, 2022 |website=[[Media Matters for America|Media Matters]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Mathias |first1=Christopher |date=July 15, 2022 |title=Gab Was Key To The Tree Of Life Shooting. Doug Mastriano Seems To Be Paying It For Followers. |work=[[HuffPost]] |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/doug-mastriano-gab-andrew-torba_n_62d08787e4b02d3ecf3184b9 |access-date=15 July 2022 |archive-date=July 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220720104814/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/doug-mastriano-gab-andrew-torba_n_62d08787e4b02d3ecf3184b9 |url-status=live }}</ref> Torba claimed that the money did not go towards consulting, but was instead used to pay for advertisements on Gab.<ref name="What is Gab" /> Torba also endorsed Mastriano's campaign for Governor of Pennsylvania, calling him "a strong Christian man to lead PA out of the pit of hell and into the glory of God."<ref name="What is Gab" /> Torba defended his views on Christian nationalism, saying that "We must be grounded in Biblical Truth and led by people who call Christ their King".<ref name="What is Gab" /> The [[Republican Jewish Coalition]] denounced the payment, citing Gab as a hotspot for antisemitism and white supremacy.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Levy |first=Marc |date=July 26, 2022 |title=GOP warms to far-right gubernatorial nominee in Pennsylvania |work=[[Associated Press]] |url=https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-abortion-campaigns-presidential-election-2020-b261a2e8a1689f13c3c4ab756423da95 |url-status=live |access-date=July 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220726175504/https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-abortion-campaigns-presidential-election-2020-b261a2e8a1689f13c3c4ab756423da95 |archive-date=July 26, 2022 |quote=His active account on Gab — a social media site popular with white supremacists and antisemites where he also spent $5,000 for advertising — prompted a condemnation by the national Republican Jewish Coalition.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Cramer |first=Philissa |date=July 23, 2022 |title=Republican Jews call on party's nominee for Pennsylvania governor to stop using Gab |work=[[The Times of Israel]] |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/republican-jews-call-on-partys-nominee-for-pennsylvania-governor-to-stop-using-gab/ |url-status=live |access-date=July 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220726224756/https://www.timesofisrael.com/republican-jews-call-on-partys-nominee-for-pennsylvania-governor-to-stop-using-gab/ |archive-date=July 26, 2022}}</ref> The head of the coalition, Matt Brooks, asked Mastriano to delete his Gab account and terminate all associations with the platform.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bender |first=Williams |date=July 26, 2022 |title=A Jewish Republican group is denouncing Doug Mastriano's links to an extremist social-media site |work=[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]] |url=https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/doug-mastriano-gab-republican-jewish-coalition-andrew-torba-20220721.html |url-status=live |access-date=July 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220726225827/https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/doug-mastriano-gab-republican-jewish-coalition-andrew-torba-20220721.html |archive-date=July 26, 2022}}</ref> Mastriano's connection to Gab was additionally condemned by Pennsylvania state representative [[Dan Frankel (American politician)|Dan Frankel]] (who is Jewish), [[Pennsylvania Attorney General]] [[Josh Shapiro]] (who is also Jewish), by Democrats, and by Democratic Jewish organizations.<ref name="What is Gab" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Kornbluh |first=Jacob |date=July 21, 2022 |title=Pittsburgh Jewish officials call out GOP nominee for governor for association with far-right social media platform |work=[[The Forward]] |url=https://forward.com/news/511455/pittsburgh-jewish-officials-doug-mastriano-gab-antisemitism/ |url-status=live |access-date=July 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220726225414/https://forward.com/news/511455/pittsburgh-jewish-officials-doug-mastriano-gab-antisemitism/ |archive-date=July 26, 2022}}</ref><ref name="Gabriel 2022">{{Cite news |last=Gabriel |first=Trip |date=2022-07-28 |title=Doug Mastriano Faces Criticism Over His Backing From Antisemitic Ally |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/27/us/politics/doug-mastriano-gab.html |access-date=2022-08-14 |issn=0362-4331 |url-access=limited |archive-date=November 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221121000943/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/27/us/politics/doug-mastriano-gab.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In August 2022, Mastriano released a statement denouncing antisemitism and distanced himself from Torba, saying that he "doesn't speak for me or my campaign".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Robbins |first=Julia |date=2022-08-02 |title=Mastriano distances from Gab CEO, doesn't disavow anti-Jewish comments |url=https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-713744 |access-date=2022-08-05 |website=[[The Jerusalem Post]] |language=en-US |archive-date=August 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220811153103/https://www.jpost.com//diaspora/antisemitism/article-713744 |url-status=live }}</ref> Mastriano also deleted his Gab account.<ref name="What is Gab" />
==Users and content==
===Users===
The site has attracted far-right or alt-right users who have been banned or suspended from other services. Since its foundation in 2016, high-profile participants have included former ''[[Breitbart News]]'' writer and polemicist [[Milo Yiannopoulos]];<ref name="Uberti 2019" /> [[Citizen journalism|citizen journalist]] [[Tim Pool]];<ref name="Murdock 2021b">{{Cite web |last=Murdock |first=Jason |date=April 1, 2021 |title=Gab welcomes GOP Texas chairman Allen West after state party votes to delete account |url=https://www.newsweek.com/gab-gop-texas-chair-allen-west-state-party-vote-delete-account-cat-parks-1580344 |access-date=April 13, 2021 |website=Newsweek |language=en |archive-date=April 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413022402/https://www.newsweek.com/gab-gop-texas-chair-allen-west-state-party-vote-delete-account-cat-parks-1580344 |url-status=live }}</ref> conservative commentator [[Dave Rubin]];<ref name="Murdock 2021b" /> former [[British National Party]] leader [[Nick Griffin]];<ref name="Weich 2018" /> Australian [[Neo-Nazism|neo-Nazis]] [[Blair Cottrell]] and [[Neil Erikson]] and Australian MP [[George Christensen]];<ref>{{Cite news |last=Whinnett |first=Ellen |date=January 17, 2021 |title=Go-to platform for neo-Nazis and QAnon attracts new users after Twitter, Parler purge |work=[[The Courier Mail]] |url=https://amp.couriermail.com.au/news/national/goto-platform-for-neonazis-and-qanon-attracts-new-users-after-twitter-parler-purge/news-story/9bd1c65ebe22a369a9b92976ea0c03bc |access-date=February 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220202181428/https://amp.couriermail.com.au/news/national/goto-platform-for-neonazis-and-qanon-attracts-new-users-after-twitter-parler-purge/news-story/9bd1c65ebe22a369a9b92976ea0c03bc |archive-date=February 2, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Cook 2019">{{Cite news |last=Cook |first=James |date=March 27, 2019 |title=Far-right turn to niche social network amid Facebook crackdown |work=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]] |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2019/03/27/far-right-turn-extremist-social-network-amid-crackdown-facebook/ |url-status=live |url-access=limited |access-date=April 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190423231934/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2019/03/27/far-right-turn-extremist-social-network-amid-crackdown-facebook/ |archive-date=April 23, 2019}}</ref> Republican Party representatives [[Marjorie Taylor Greene]], [[Lauren Boebert]], and [[Paul Gosar]];<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kavaler |first=Tara |date=February 1, 2022 |title=Gosar defends white nationalist Nick Fuentes on social media site Gab |url=https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2022/02/01/gosar-defends-familiar-ally-white-nationalist-nick-fuentes-gab/9205303002/ |access-date=February 2, 2022 |website=[[The Arizona Republic]] |language=en-US |archive-date=February 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220205204018/https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2022/02/01/gosar-defends-familiar-ally-white-nationalist-nick-fuentes-gab/9205303002/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Lee 2021">{{Cite web |last=Lee |first=Micah |date=March 3, 2021 |title=Donald Trump's Gab Account Uses an Email Address Belonging to the Extremist Platform's CEO |url=https://theintercept.com/2021/03/03/gab-donald-trump-email-ceo/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309164705/https://theintercept.com/2021/03/03/gab-donald-trump-email-ceo/ |archive-date=March 9, 2021 |access-date=March 11, 2021 |website=[[The Intercept]] |language=en}}</ref> former [[Republican Party of Texas]] chairman [[Allen West (politician)|Allen West]];<ref name="Murdock 2021b" /> former [[White House]] chief strategist [[Steve Bannon]];<ref name="Klepper 2022" /> Dutch politician and Leader of the [[Party for Freedom]] [[Geert Wilders]];<ref name="Wildon 2021">{{Cite news |last=Wildon |first=Jordan |date=March 23, 2021 |title=How Gab's early design made it a 'circlejerk' to the lowest depths of the internet |work=The Daily Dot |url=https://www.dailydot.com/debug/gab-data-toxic-user-base/ |access-date=March 26, 2021 |archive-date=March 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210324160019/https://www.dailydot.com/debug/gab-data-toxic-user-base/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and white supremacists [[Richard B. Spencer]],<ref name="Wilson 2016">{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/nov/17/gab-alt-right-social-media-twitter |title=Gab: alt-right's social media alternative attracts users banned from Twitter |last=Wilson |first=Jason |date=November 17, 2016 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=December 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161204132713/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/nov/17/gab-alt-right-social-media-twitter |archive-date=December 4, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Hess 2016" /> [[Tila Tequila]],<ref name="Shaw 2016" /> [[Vox Day]],<ref>{{cite news |last=Robertson |first=Adi |date=October 9, 2017 |title=Two months ago, the Internet tried to banish Nazis. No one knows if it worked |work=[[The Verge]] |url=https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/9/16446920/internet-ban-nazis-white-supremacist-hosting-providers-charlottesville |url-status=live |access-date=April 3, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180404073119/https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/9/16446920/internet-ban-nazis-white-supremacist-hosting-providers-charlottesville |archive-date=April 4, 2018}}</ref> and Christopher Cantwell.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ohlheiser |first1=Abby |last2=Shapira |first2=Ian |date=October 29, 2018 |title=Gab, the white supremacist sanctuary linked to the Pittsburgh suspect, goes offline (for now) |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/10/28/how-gab-became-white-supremacist-sanctuary-before-it-was-linked-pittsburgh-suspect/ |url-status=live |url-access=limited |access-date=January 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181028222912/https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/10/28/how-gab-became-white-supremacist-sanctuary-before-it-was-linked-pittsburgh-suspect/ |archive-date=October 28, 2018}}</ref> Far-right political parties and party candidates, including [[Britain First]],<ref>{{cite news |work=[[The Guardian]] |title=Britain First signs up to fringe social media site after Twitter ban |last=Marsh |first=Susan |date=December 20, 2017 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/20/britain-first-gab-social-media-twitter-ban |access-date=January 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180105061200/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/20/britain-first-gab-social-media-twitter-ban |archive-date=January 5, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> Spanish [[Vox (political party)|Vox]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-02-15 |title=Así es Gab, la red social en la que se ha registrado Vox tras el 'castigo' de Twitter |url=https://www.antena3.com/noticias/espana/asi-gab-red-social-que-registrado-vox-castigo-twitter_202002155e483bf10cf290812a644e04.html |access-date=2022-11-06 |website=www.antena3.com |language=es |archive-date=September 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240901235017/https://www.antena3.com/noticias/espana/asi-gab-red-social-que-registrado-vox-castigo-twitter_202002155e483bf10cf290812a644e04.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[UKIP]] candidates such as [[Mark Meechan]]<ref name="Hall 2019">{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/may/11/ukip-european-election-candidates-join-gab-social-media-far-right |title=Ukip candidates urge followers to switch to far-right social network Gab |last=Hall |first=Sam |date=May 11, 2019 |work=[[The Observer]] |access-date=May 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190515194440/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/may/11/ukip-european-election-candidates-join-gab-social-media-far-right |archive-date=May 15, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Carl Benjamin]],<ref>{{Cite news |last=Livni |first=Ephrat |date=May 12, 2019 |title=Twitter, Facebook, and Insta bans send the alt-right to Gab and Telegram |work=[[Quartz (publication)|Quartz]] |url=https://qz.com/1617824/twitter-facebook-bans-send-alt-right-to-gab-and-telegram/ |url-status=live |url-access=limited |access-date=May 29, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190524011611/https://qz.com/1617824/twitter-facebook-bans-send-alt-right-to-gab-and-telegram/ |archive-date=May 24, 2019}}</ref> have also been participants. Following the [[Christchurch mosque shootings]] and a reduced tolerance on other social media for hate speech, several members of [[United Patriots Front]], an Australian far-right extremist organization, urged their supporters to follow them on Gab after being banned from Twitter and Facebook.<ref>{{cite news |last=Koslowski |first=Max |date=March 20, 2019 |title=Australia's far-right moves to shadowy messaging service amid crackdown on digital giants |work=[[The Age]] |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/australia-s-far-right-moves-to-shadowy-messaging-service-amid-crackdown-on-digital-giants-20190320-p515tw.html |url-status=live |access-date=March 22, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322053040/https://www.theage.com.au/national/australia-s-far-right-moves-to-shadowy-messaging-service-amid-crackdown-on-digital-giants-20190320-p515tw.html |archive-date=March 22, 2019}}</ref>
On January 24, 2021, the [[Republican Party of Texas]] made a post on its Twitter account asking their followers to join Gab.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nowlin |first=Sanford |date=January 25, 2021 |title=Texas GOP asks people to follow it on Gab, a social media platform used by right-wing extremists |url=https://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2021/01/25/texas-gop-asks-people-to-follow-it-on-gab-a-social-media-platform-used-by-right-wing-extremists |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125223921/https://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2021/01/25/texas-gop-asks-people-to-follow-it-on-gab-a-social-media-platform-used-by-right-wing-extremists |archive-date=January 25, 2021 |access-date=January 26, 2021 |website=San Antonio Current |language=en}}</ref> In March 2021, the Republican Party of Texas voted to delete their Gab account.<ref name="Murdock 2021b" />
Former Gab users include white nationalist political candidate [[Paul Nehlen]], who was removed from the site for [[doxing]] the man behind the "Ricky Vaughn" Twitter account;<ref>{{cite news |last=Pink |first=Aiden |date=April 5, 2018 |title=Even the Alt-Right Is Sick of Paul Nehlen |work=[[The Forward]] |url=https://forward.com/fast-forward/398249/even-the-alt-right-is-sick-of-paul-nehlen/ |url-status=live |access-date=May 6, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180506104059/https://forward.com/fast-forward/398249/even-the-alt-right-is-sick-of-paul-nehlen/ |archive-date=May 6, 2018}}</ref> and hacker, internet troll, and former ''[[Daily Stormer]]'' writer [[Weev|Andrew "Weev" Auernheimer]], who was banned for calling for genocide against Jews and endorsing terrorist [[Timothy McVeigh]].<ref name="Hayden 2017" /> Auernheimer's activity prompted threats from Gab's then webhost Asia Registry to remove the comments or they would refuse to host the site.<ref name="Hayden 2017" /> Christopher Cantwell, a white supremacist and neo-Nazi activist who "once drove a significant amount of interaction on the small site",<ref name="Dougherty 2019b" /> was banned from the site in March 2019 after using the site to advocate in the wake of the 2019 Christchurch shootings that future mass killers should target and murder left-wing activists, instead of "random people in mosques and synagogues", in order to effectively silence left-wing activism.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Moritz-Rabson |first=Daniel |date=March 19, 2019 |title="Crying Nazi" Christopher Cantwell reportedly banned from Gab after post advocated shooting leftists |work=[[Newsweek]] |url=https://www.newsweek.com/social-media-site-gab-bans-crying-nazi-killing-leftists-1367679 |url-status=live |access-date=March 30, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331004628/https://www.newsweek.com/social-media-site-gab-bans-crying-nazi-killing-leftists-1367679 |archive-date=March 31, 2019}}</ref>
Line 178 ⟶ 181:
In early 2018, a cross-university group released a research study on posts made to the site. According to that study, the site hosted a high volume of racism and hate speech,<ref name="Bennett 2018">{{cite news |last=Bennett |first=Tom |date=April 5, 2018 |title=Gab Is the Alt-Right Social Network Racists Are Moving to |work=[[Vice (magazine)|Vice]] |url=https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/ywxb95/gab-is-the-alt-right-social-network-racists-are-moving-to |url-status=live |access-date=October 28, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181029135729/https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/ywxb95/gab-is-the-alt-right-social-network-racists-are-moving-to |archive-date=October 29, 2018}}</ref> and primarily "attracts alt-right users, conspiracy theorists, and other trolls".<ref>{{cite news |last=Collins |first=Ben |title=Synagogue shooting suspect threatened Jewish groups, pushed conspiracies |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-suspect-threatened-jewish-groups-pushed-migrant-caravan-n925256 |access-date=October 28, 2018 |work=[[NBC News]] |date=October 27, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181029115805/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-suspect-threatened-jewish-groups-pushed-migrant-caravan-n925256 |archive-date=October 29, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> The study listed Carl Benjamin, [[Ann Coulter]], Alex Jones, [[Stefan Molyneux]], [[Lauren Southern]], and [[Paul Joseph Watson]] as some of the more popular users of the site. The authors also performed an automated search using [[Hatebase]] and found "hate words" in 5.4% of Gab posts, which they stated was 2.4 times higher than their occurrence on Twitter but less than half that found on [[/pol/]], a political discussion board on [[4chan]].<ref name="Zannettou 2018">{{Cite conference |last1=Zannettou |first1=Savvas |last2=Bradlyn |first2=Barry |last3=De Cristofaro |first3=Emiliano |last4=Kwak |first4=Haewoon |last5=Sirivianos |first5=Michael |last6=Stringhini |first6=Gianluca |last7=Blackburn |first7=Jeremy |book-title=WWW '18: Companion Proceedings of The Web Conference 2018 |title=What is Gab |display-authors=3 |date=March 13, 2018 |location=Geneva |publisher=International World Wide Web Conferences Steering Committee |pages=1007–1014 |arxiv=1802.05287 |doi=10.1145/3184558.3191531 |isbn=978-1-4503-5640-4 |s2cid=13853370}}</ref> The authors of the study stated in their conclusion that while anyone can join Gab, the site is aligned with the alt-right and its use of free speech rhetoric "merely functions as a shield for its alt-right users to hide behind".<ref name="Zannettou 2018" /><ref name="Bennett 2018" />
A 2018 paper authored by [[Behavioural sciences|behavioral researchers]] that was presented at the 2018 [[SBP-BRiMS]] collected and analyzed "several million Gab messages" posted on the Gab website from the platform's launch in August 2016 to February 2018. The researchers then divided the posts into 33 groups, including topics such as [[Popular culture|pop culture]]. The researchers found that the largest category of posts on Gab was [[politics]], comprising 56% of all posts collected and analyzed. The researchers also found that the largest subcategory within politics was "Ideology, religion and race", comprising 10.23% of all posts. According to paper co-author [[William D. Adler]], a [[political science]] professor at [[Northeastern Illinois University]], the subcategory "Ideology, religion, and race" "includes topics such as changing racial demographics, threats to Christianity, and concerns about Jewish influence", adding "It's a lot of what you might think of as white nationalism". Other subcategories within politics included conversations about "Trump, [[Clinton family|Clinton]] and conspiracies", comprising 5.10% of all posts, and "Globalism", a [[Dog whistle (politics)|dog whistle]] for antisemitic conspiracy theories, comprising 1.95% of all posts. The researchers also linked Gab's growth to the far-right. According to Alder, Gab's free speech rhetoric is "part of the game here, of course", adding that "They don't want to say [what they're really doing] out loud, so they say 'free speech, free speech.{{' "}}<ref name="Berlatsky 2018" /><ref>{{cite web |last1=Zhou |first1=Yuchen |last2=Dredze |first2=Mark |last3=A. Broniatowski |first3=David |last4=D. Adler |first4=William |date=2018 |title=Gab: The Alt-Right Social Media Platform |url=http://sbp-brims.org/2018/proceedings/papers/latebreaking_papers/LB_9.pdf |via=SBP-BRiMS |access-date=October 23, 2021 |archive-date=October 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211023161456/http://sbp-brims.org/2018/proceedings/papers/latebreaking_papers/LB_9.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Based on the results of the paper, Noah Berlatsky of ''[[The Forward]]'' noted: "In contrast, there is little discussion of left topics that might be considered to push the edges of acceptable discourse. There are no [[Stalinism|Stalinist apologia]], for example, nor calls for violent [[Communist revolution]]. More, there is not an equivalent on the left for Gab, or for the other right wing social media networks like WrongThink (modeled on Facebook) or GoyFundMe (a right wing [[Kickstarter]], which even has an implicitly anti-Semitic name.) Extremist social media bubbles are not a both sides problem; they are a right-wing phenomenon".<ref name="Berlatsky 2018" />
A report issued by the ADL and the Network Contagion Research Institute on March 12, 2019, found that when Twitter bans "extremist voices", Gab's user base grows.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lord |first1=Rich |last2=Murray |first2=Ashley |date=March 12, 2019 |title=Report: When Twitter bans, Gab grows |work=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]] |url=https://www.post-gazette.com/local/region/2019/03/12/Twitter-bans-Gab-tree-of-life-robert-bowers-social-media-extremist-adl/stories/201903120123 |url-status=live |access-date=March 19, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190318043434/https://www.post-gazette.com/local/region/2019/03/12/Twitter-bans-Gab-tree-of-life-robert-bowers-social-media-extremist-adl/stories/201903120123 |archive-date=March 18, 2019}}</ref> Researchers from [[Northeastern Illinois University]] publishing in ''[[First Monday (journal)|First Monday]]'' wrote in August 2019 that many of the sites shared by Gab's users "are associated with state-sponsored propaganda from foreign governments".<ref name="Zhou 2019">{{cite journal |last1=Zhou |first1=Yuchen |last2=Dredze |first2=Mark |last3=Broniatowski |first3=David A. |last4=Adler |first4=William D. |date=August 31, 2019 |title=Elites and foreign actors among the alt-right: The Gab social media platform |url=https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/10062 |journal=[[First Monday (journal)|First Monday]] |language=en |volume=24 |doi=10.5210/fm.v24i9.10062 |s2cid=202670330 |issn=1396-0466 |doi-access=free |access-date=June 22, 2021 |archive-date=June 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210628235022/https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/10062 |url-status=live }}</ref> Researchers publishing in ''e-Extreme'' wrote in October 2020 that many of Gab's users are Trump supporters who feel they are being censored on mainstream platforms, and "this sense of persecution is the reason why many join the platform, while an overarching shared sense of victimhood – whether as members of a '[[White people|white race]]', free-speech absolutists, or Trump supporters – unites the broader community".<ref name="McSwiney 2020">{{Cite journal |last=McSwiney |first=Jordan |date=October 2020 |editor-last=Paxton |editor-first=Fred |editor2-last=Rodi |editor2-first=Patricia |title=Gab.com: The Pro-Trump Alternative Social Media |url=https://issuu.com/extremism-and-democracy/docs/2020-21-03-eextreme-newsletter |journal=E-Extreme |publisher=[[European Consortium for Political Research]] Standing Group on Extremism & Democracy |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=15–16 |access-date=February 25, 2021 |archive-date=March 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210316180012/https://issuu.com/extremism-and-democracy/docs/2020-21-03-eextreme-newsletter |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2021, a study published by an international team of researchers titled "Understanding the Effect of Deplatforming on Social Networks". found that being banned on Twitter or [[Reddit]] led those users who were banned to join alternative platforms such as Gab or Parler, which have more lax content moderation. The study also found that while users who move to these platforms have their audience potentially reduced, the users exhibit increased activity and toxicity than they did previously.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kocher |first=Chris |date=July 20, 2021 |title=Study shows users banned from social platforms go elsewhere with increased toxicity - Binghamton News |url=https://www.binghamton.edu/news/story/3178/study-shows-users-banned-from-social-platforms-go-elsewhere-with-increased-toxicity |access-date=August 4, 2021 |website=[[Binghamton University]] |language=en |archive-date=August 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210804010645/https://www.binghamton.edu/news/story/3178/study-shows-users-banned-from-social-platforms-go-elsewhere-with-increased-toxicity |url-status=live }}</ref> Also in 2021, researchers found that Gab users are "united by a shared sense of techno-social persecution at the hands of 'Big Tech', a commitment to the ultra-libertarian values of the platform, and in many cases, a material investment in Gab as an Alt-Tech project."<ref name="Jasser 2021" />
In June 2021, the [[Lowy Institute]] noted of Gab's userbase that "Regardless of which narrative a user in Gab's far-right community ascribes to, a shared sense of techno-social persecution is what draws them in and unites them. These users feel safe in the knowledge that they can "speak freely" on the platform, with little fear of being banned or even critiqued, regardless of how extreme their views are".<ref name="McSwiney 2021" />
On October 11, 2021, researcher Sefa Ozalp published a report for the ADL's Center on Extremism (COE) titled "For Twitter Users, Gab's Toxic Content is Just a Click Away", which analyzed how many links to Gab's website were shared on Twitter between June 7, 2021, and August 22, 2021. The report found that, during this time period, more than 112,000 tweets were posted that linked to Gab's website (shared by more than 32,700 users) with a potential reach of more than 254 million views. The report also found that the fifty most shared links to Gab on Twitter "were rife with conspiratorial content and misinformation, some promoted by Gab itself via its verified Twitter account". Out of these fifty most shared links, sixteen "promoted [[COVID-19 misinformation|misinformation and conspiracy theories about Covid-19]]" and twenty-one "contained conspiratorial content by Japanese-language accounts", including false claims about COVID-19 and [[COVID-19 vaccine]]s, [[Microsoft]] co-founder [[Bill Gates]], and QAnon. Ozalp said that the ADL was not advocating for Twitter to completely ban Gab or links to Gab from its platform, instead advocating in favor of Twitter more effectively enforcing its current policies against misinformation and hate speech. Ozalp also said of Twitter that "Even if they are not acting like a knowing or willing contributor to anti-vax or anti-Semitism stuff, they are still playing a part in [the] dissemination of these conspiracy theories or hate, probably without wanting to do so". Twitter spokesperson Elizabeth Busby responded to the report by claiming that Twitter takes action against links to third-party websites that "would otherwise violate our policies if their content were posted directly on Twitter", including COVID-19 misinformation. Busby also said that "As ADL's report acknowledges, we continue to improve our approach to mis- and disinformation". Later on October 11, Torba criticized the ADL's report in a blog post, claiming that it was created in an attempt to "pressure Twitter to censor us". He also accused the organization of being an "anti-Christ, Anti-American, and Anti-White hate organization". In a statement, the ADL said that Torba's response "is consistent with other statements from Gab" and that they "speak for themselves". According to Ozalp, the report is part of a "longer running research series" by the ADL that will include more studies on other social media platforms.<ref name="Lima 2021">{{Cite news |last=Lima |first=Cristiano |date=October 12, 2021 |title=Twitter is serving as a gateway to Gab's conspiracy theories, study finds |language=en-US |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/10/12/twitter-is-serving-gateway-gabs-conspiracy-theories-study-finds/ |access-date=October 15, 2021 |issn=0190-8286 |url-access=limited |archive-date=October 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211012202341/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/10/12/twitter-is-serving-gateway-gabs-conspiracy-theories-study-finds/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
In December 2021, researchers at the [[University of Southern California]] Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences found that Gab users who shared similar moral values and beliefs with members of their immediate groups were more vulnerable to radicalization, including a higher likelihood of dissemination of hate speech and the use of language intended to dehumanize or threaten violence against users outside of their immediate groups.<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 16, 2021 |title=Hate speech on social media is fueled by users' shared moral concerns, USC study shows |url=https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/937983 |access-date=December 22, 2021 |website=[[EurekAlert!]] |language=en |archive-date=December 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211222050006/https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/937983 |url-status=live }}</ref>
A June 2022 report from the [[Stanford Internet Observatory]] found that "The deplatforming events following January 6 were a huge boost to Gab, and may have resulted in millions of dollars of income for Gab, potentially keeping it solvent." as well as resulting in "a massive spike in new users" and "thousands of new 'Pro' subscriptions and donations". This helped Gab "fund real-world activities such as the white nationalist AFPAC conference." Gab's growth in users had previously been stagnant with "increasing monetary losses". Secondly, the report found that in 2021 and 2022, Gab "had significant growth in
A 2023 study found that there was less polarization of its user base than on Facebook, as well as more open discourse about a variety of topics.<ref name="Acampa 2023">{{Cite journal |last1=Acampa |first1=Suania |last2=Crescentini |first2=Noemi |last3=Padricelli |first3=Giuseppe Michele |date=July 17, 2023 |title=Between alternative and traditional social platforms: the case of gab in exploring the narratives on the pandemic and vaccines |journal=[[Frontiers in Sociology]] |volume=8 |doi=10.3389/fsoc.2023.1143263 |pmid=37534329 |pmc=10390321 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The authors of the study believed the major contributor to the lack of polarization was the lack of diversity in the site—essentially being an [[Echo chamber (media)|echo chamber]].<ref name="Acampa 2023" />
=== Donald Trump ===
In early February 2021, multiple media outlets falsely reported that former-President Trump had joined Gab under the handle [[Social media use by Donald Trump|@realdonaldtrump]].<ref name="Ankel 2021">{{Cite web |last1=Ankel |first1=Sophia |last2=Vlamis |first2=Kelsey |date=February 6, 2021 |title=Gab's CEO says Trump doesn't use the platform, after reports wrongly suggest he returned to social media |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-breaks-silence-with-post-on-gab-denouncing-impeachment-trial-2021-2 |access-date=February 8, 2021 |website=Business Insider |archive-date=March 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302013334/https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-breaks-silence-with-post-on-gab-denouncing-impeachment-trial-2021-2 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Gilbert 2021a">{{Cite web |last=Gilbert |first=David |date=February 8, 2021 |title=Gab's 'Real Donald Trump' Isn't Really Donald Trump |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgzkk7/gabs-real-donald-trump-isnt-really-donald-trump |access-date=February 8, 2021 |website=Vice News |language=en |archive-date=March 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302121932/https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgzkk7/gabs-real-donald-trump-isnt-really-donald-trump |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[The Independent]]'' speculated "that confusion arose from the presence of a blue check mark indicating the account was verified" and ''Vice News'' speculated that the bio of the account, which read "45th President of the United States of America. Uncensored posts from the @realDonaldTrump Feed", had also caused confusion.<ref name="O'Connell 2021">{{Cite web |last=O'Connell |first=Oliver |date=February 7, 2021 |title=Trump doesn't use Gab and is being kept off by 'dopey' Jared Kushner, says CEO |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-gab-dopey-jared-kushner-b1798930.html |access-date=February 8, 2021 |website=The Independent |language=en |archive-date=February 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210213143153/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-gab-dopey-jared-kushner-b1798930.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
The Gab post that was mistaken to be from Trump was actually from Torba and featured a copy of a genuine letter sent by Trump's lawyers to Democratic Representative [[Jamie Raskin]], who had called on Trump to testify at his [[Second impeachment of Donald Trump|second impeachment]] hearing.<ref name="Ankel 2021" /><ref name="O'Connell 2021" /> Thousands of users on Gab were also led to believe after the post was made that Trump had joined the platform under the handle.<ref name="Gilbert 2021a" /><ref name="Goforth 2021">{{Cite web |last=Goforth |first=Claire |date=February 8, 2021 |title=How Gab tricked the media into believing Trump joined the site |url=https://www.dailydot.com/debug/media-tricked-gab-account-trump/ |access-date=February 8, 2021 |website=The Daily Dot |language=en-US |archive-date=February 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208193717/https://www.dailydot.com/debug/media-tricked-gab-account-trump/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Torba responded to the false reports in a blog post, saying that "@realdonaldtrump is and always has been a mirror archive of POTUS' tweets and statements that we've run for years. We've always been transparent about this and would obviously let people know if the President starts using it".<ref name="Barrabi 2021" /> He also criticized the media outlets that falsely reported that Trump had joined the platform.<ref name="Ankel 2021" /> Also in response to the false reports, the @realdonaldtrump Gab account made a post that was pinned saying that the account is reserved for Trump and urged users of Gab to send messages to Trump asking him to join the platform.<ref name="Goforth 2021" />
In March 2021, [[Forbes]] reported that representatives of former [[Senior advisor|Senior Advisor]] [[Jared Kushner]] in January had asked for equity in Gab in exchange for Kushner's father-in-law Trump joining the platform. Torba declined the offer, saying "No, I'm not entertaining that".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Brown |first=Abram |date=March 23, 2021 |title=Trump Approached Conservative Media App Gab Before Announcing Plans To Start His Own App |work=Forbes |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2021/03/23/trump-gab-parler-social-media-app-network/?sh=6a11b0741101 |access-date=March 23, 2021 |archive-date=March 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210323203220/https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2021/03/23/trump-gab-parler-social-media-app-network/?sh=6a11b0741101 |url-status=live }}</ref>
In a June 2021 interview with far-right conspiracy theory website [[TruNews]], Torba claimed that Kushner wanted Gab to remove antisemitic content and users from its platform before Trump could join, saying that "He called them Jew-haters, I called them Jew criticizers" and that "It's a free-speech platform, so as long as you're not saying anything illegal, as long as you're not making threats of violence, you're allowed to speak your mind and have an opinion about things, and I was not going to compromise on that position". No independent confirmation has been made that such a negotiation took place.<ref name="Mak 2021"/>
In August 2022, Adam Bies, a man in rural [[Mercer County, Pennsylvania]], was charged with making death threats against FBI agents on Gab after the [[FBI search of Mar-a-Lago]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ove |first=Torsten |date=2022-08-15 |title=Mercer County man charged with threats to kill FBI agents after Mar-a-Lago search |url=https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2022/08/15/threat-to-fbi-adam-bies-mercer-county-pa-trump-mar-a-lago-search-gab-threats/stories/202208150059 |access-date=2022-08-15 |website=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |language=en |archive-date=August 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220823213812/https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2022/08/15/threat-to-fbi-adam-bies-mercer-county-pa-trump-mar-a-lago-search-gab-threats/stories/202208150059 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Goforth 2022b">{{Cite web |last=Goforth |first=Claire |date=2022-08-16 |title='Judas': Gab users are furious its founder handed over data to the FBI without a subpoena |url=https://www.dailydot.com/debug/gab-users-revolt-andrew-torba-cooperating-fbi/ |access-date=2022-08-16 |website=The Daily Dot |language=en-US |archive-date=August 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220817194912/https://www.dailydot.com/debug/gab-users-revolt-andrew-torba-cooperating-fbi/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Torba had given data from Bies to the FBI, including an email, IP addresses, and chat logs. In response, Gab users accused Torba of betraying Gab's userbase and commitment to free speech, as well as likening Torba to [[Judas Iscariot]], the disciple who betrayed Jesus. Many users criticized Torba for giving the data to the FBI without a subpoena. In response, Torba did not apologize for cooperating with the FBI, said that "threatening anyone—federal agent or not—is not the right way to do it", and said that Gab is dedicated to upholding "lawful speech and lawful speech only." While some Gab users accepted the response from Torba, others continued to criticize him. In response to the continued criticism, Torba said that "People who threaten to murder people on the internet are not my 'pals.{{' "}}<ref name="Goforth 2022b" />
=== COVID-19 vaccine avoidance and disinformation ===
In late July 2021, Torba claimed in a Gab post that he was "getting flooded" with text messages from members of the [[United States Armed Forces|U.S. military]] who claimed that they would be [[court-martial]]ed if they refused a COVID-19 vaccine.<ref name="Alba 2021">{{Cite news |last=Alba |first=Davey |author-link=Davey Alba |date=August 10, 2021 |title=Virus Misinformation Spikes as Delta Cases Surge |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/10/technology/covid-delta-misinformation-surge.html |access-date=August 11, 2021 |issn=0362-4331 |url-access=limited |archive-date=August 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813150703/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/10/technology/covid-delta-misinformation-surge.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The post amassed 10,000 likes and shares.<ref name="Alba 2021" /> Torba also posted documents on Gab's news site that contain [[COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and hesitancy|misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine]] and claimed in an email in response to ''The New York Times'' that "I'm telling the truth" and "Your Facebook-funded 'fact checkers' like Graphika are wrong and are the people peddling disinformation here".<ref name="Alba 2021" /> Torba also posted a conversation he had with the ''Times'' reporter, saying "I am sharing this all with you now to let you know how these wicked people operate and to shine a light on their lies, deception, and anti-Christian attacks. They aren't just attacking me, they are attacking any and all dissent and opposition to their libido dominandi (lust for power)".<ref name="Silverman 2021" />
In August 2021, Alex Kaplan of ''Media Matters for America'' noted that Torba "is trying to use his platform to sabotage coronavirus vaccination efforts".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kaplan |first=Alex |date=August 31, 2021 |title=Gab's CEO is trying to use his platform to sabotage coronavirus vaccination efforts |url=https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/gabs-ceo-trying-use-his-platform-sabotage-coronavirus-vaccination-efforts |access-date=September 1, 2021 |website=Media Matters for America |language=en |archive-date=September 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210902070814/https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/gabs-ceo-trying-use-his-platform-sabotage-coronavirus-vaccination-efforts |url-status=live }}</ref>
In October 2021, John Gallagher of ''[[LGBTQ Nation]]'' wrote that "A visitor to Gab will find misinformation about COVID, calls to arrest [[National Institutes of Health|NIH]] [<nowiki/>[[National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases|NIAID]]] head Dr. [[Anthony Fauci]], and [[Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election|lies about the 2020 presidential election]]. One post, liked by more than 4,000 people, shows a gloating Trump under the line, 'Show me a pic of pregnant [[Michelle Obama]], and I'll concede the 2020 election.{{' "}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gallagher |first=John |date=October 24, 2021 |title=Right-wing Christians are creating their own parallel universe on social media |url=https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2021/10/right-wing-christians-creating-parallel-universe-social-media/ |access-date=October 26, 2021 |website=[[LGBTQ Nation]] |archive-date=October 29, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211029045858/https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2021/10/right-wing-christians-creating-parallel-universe-social-media/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
On March 14, 2022, Torba shared a baseless QAnon conspiracy theory claiming that Trump was mispronouncing the word "[[China]]" on purpose to secretly signal that [[Ukraine]] was behind the [[COVID-19 lab leak theory|development of COVID-19]].<ref name="Gilbert 2022" />
=== Userbase estimates ===
In November 2021, when asked by ''The Washington Post'' about Gab's Brazilian user base, Torba responded in an email on November 8, saying "Ya my comment is 'God bless Jair Bolsonaro and Jesus Christ is King.' No further comment."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lima |first=Cristiano |date=November 9, 2021 |title=Gettr, Parler, Gab find a fanbase with Brazil's far-right |language=en-US |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/11/09/gettr-parler-gab-find-fanbase-with-brazils-far-right/ |access-date=November 9, 2021 |issn=0190-8286 |url-access=limited |archive-date=November 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211109235526/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/11/09/gettr-parler-gab-find-fanbase-with-brazils-far-right/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
{{As of|2021|3}}, Gab has 4{{Nbsp}}million registered users. According to Micah Lee writing for ''The Intercept'', the "vast majority" of registered Gab accounts are inactive, and the number of active users on the site is closer to 100,000.<ref name="Lee 2021a">{{Cite web |last=Lee |first=Micah |date=March 15, 2021 |title=Inside Gab, the Online Safe Space for Far-Right Extremists |url=https://theintercept.com/2021/03/15/gab-hack-donald-trump-parler-extremists/ |access-date=March 15, 2021 |website=[[The Intercept]] |language=en |archive-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210830204648/https://theintercept.com/2021/03/15/gab-hack-donald-trump-parler-extremists/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2021, Torba claimed that Gab has 15 million unique monthly visitors.<ref name="Silverman 2021" /> As of August 2021, Torba has more than 3 million followers on Gab,<ref name="Silverman 2021" /> with all Gab users following him by default.<ref name="Kaplan 2022" />
As of the summer of 2022, Gab had over 5 million registered users.<ref name="Fox 2022a" />
=== Antisemitic content ===
[[Rita Katz]], a researcher and analyst of terrorism and extremism, wrote in ''[[Politico#Politico Magazine|Politico Magazine]]'' in October 2018 that Robert Bowers' extreme antisemitic postings were "anything but an anomaly" on the website, and, "[they highlight] concerns about its growing facilitation of white nationalism and other far-right movements". She found that Gab user profiles often contained [[Nazi symbolism]], and Stormfront users had praised the site as a place to post antisemitic content. Katz found that many Gab users were celebrating immediately after Bowers' massacre against the Tree of Life synagogue, and wrote that far-right communities' rise to popularity on Gab is "remarkably similar" to the rise of [[ISIS]] on social media.<ref name="Katz 2018" /> In November 2018, Twitter user Jason Baumgartner, who owns a website dedicated to detecting hate speech on social media, found that using the search term "oven" on Gab brought up the terms "Jews", "Holocaust", and "[[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]]" the most among thousands of analyzed comments.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fisher |first=Alyssa |date=November 6, 2018 |title=Typing 'Oven' Into Gab Is Likely To Pull Up Conversations About Jews |url=https://forward.com/fast-forward/413748/typing-oven-into-gab-is-likely-to-pull-up-conversations-about-jews/ |access-date=January 8, 2022 |website=The Forward |language=en-US |archive-date=January 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220107081029/https://forward.com/fast-forward/413748/typing-oven-into-gab-is-likely-to-pull-up-conversations-about-jews/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
Joshua Fisher-Birch of the [[Counter Extremism Project]] said in 2019: "Gab has always been attractive to fascist and neo-Nazi groups that advocate violence".<ref name="Makuch 2019" /> The same month, non-profit left-wing media collective [[Unicorn Riot]] discovered that individual Gab users led by alt-right figure [[Brittany Pettibone]] organized on the video game chat and [[Voice over IP|VoIP]] platform [[Discord (software)|Discord]] and that some of the discussions centered on antisemitism and achieving "[[Ethnic nationalism|ethno-nationalism]]".<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 30, 2018 |title=Gab Users Coordinate Hate in Private Chat Server |publisher=[[Unicorn Riot]] |url=https://unicornriot.ninja/2018/gab-users-coordinate-hate-in-private-chat-server/ |url-status=live |access-date=January 27, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190125192839/https://unicornriot.ninja/2018/gab-users-coordinate-hate-in-private-chat-server/ |archive-date=January 25, 2019}}</ref> ''[[The Jewish Chronicle]]'' reported in January 2019 that they had found material on the site accusing Jews of responsibility for the [[September 11 attacks]]. After setting up a fake account on Gab, the newspaper's journalist Ben Weich was quickly "presented with a steady stream of Holocaust denial, antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories – as well as those venerating Adolf Hitler". Posts he discovered included at least one user who used a [[Swastika#Nazi symbol|swastika]] as their profile picture and stated: "The parasitic Jews will fully deserve the genocide that's coming upon them" and "They do not deserve mercy, expulsion will never fix a rat problem, extermination does".<ref name="Weich 2019">{{cite news |last=Weich |first=Ben |date=January 2, 2019 |title=Inside Gab, the alt-right's social media network that is awash with antisemitism |work=[[The Jewish Chronicle]] |url=https://www.thejc.com/news/world/inside-the-social-media-network-of-the-alt-right-1.477090 |url-status=live |access-date=January 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190107124519/https://www.thejc.com/news/world/inside-the-social-media-network-of-the-alt-right-1.477090 |archive-date=January 7, 2019}}</ref>
Line 225 ⟶ 228:
In addition to allowing Holocaust denial and other forms of antisemitism, Gab has been used as a recruitment tool by several neo-Nazi and alt-right groups, including [[Identity Evropa]], [[Patriot Front]], and the [[Atomwaffen Division]], a terrorist organization tied to a number of murders.<ref name="Katz 2018">{{Cite news |last=Katz |first=Rita |author-link=Rita Katz |date=October 29, 2018 |title=Inside the Online Cesspool of Anti-Semitism That Housed Robert Bowers |work=[[Politico Magazine]] |url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/10/29/inside-the-online-cesspool-of-anti-semitism-that-housed-robert-bowers-221949 |url-status=live |access-date=December 24, 2018 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200502061941/https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/10/29/inside-the-online-cesspool-of-anti-semitism-that-housed-robert-bowers-221949 |archive-date=May 2, 2020}}</ref><ref name="Coaston 2018">{{Cite news |last=Coaston |first=Jane |date=October 29, 2018 |title=Gab, the social media platform favored by the alleged Pittsburgh shooter, explained |work=[[Vox (website)|Vox]] |url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/10/29/18033006/gab-social-media-anti-semitism-neo-nazis-twitter-facebook |url-status=live |access-date=December 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181217101431/https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/10/29/18033006/gab-social-media-anti-semitism-neo-nazis-twitter-facebook |archive-date=December 17, 2018}}</ref>
[[Cultural Marxism conspiracy theory|Cultural Marxism]], a far-right antisemitic [[conspiracy theory]], is a popular topic on Gab.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Moyn |first=Samuel |date=November 13, 2018 |title=The Alt-Right's Favorite Meme Is 100 Years Old |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/13/opinion/cultural-marxism-anti-semitism.html |access-date=January 8, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |url-access=limited |archive-date=November 13, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181113144428/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/13/opinion/cultural-marxism-anti-semitism.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
==== By Gab ====
Line 232 ⟶ 235:
On August 9, 2018, in response to a post from Jewish political activist [[Brian Krassenstein]] calling for the shutdown of the site, Gab's Twitter account responded with a post suggesting that it is unsurprising for a person with a Jewish last name to oppose "free speech", followed by a tweet from the platform calling for "open borders for Israel", a quote from former [[Ku Klux Klan]] leader [[David Duke]], and posted another tweet the same hour with a citation to a Bible verse ([[wikisource:Bible (King James)/Revelation#3:9|Revelation 3:9]]) that referred to Jewish non-believers of Jesus as members of the "[[synagogue of Satan]]".<ref name="Pagliery 2018" /><ref name="Boigon 2021">{{Cite web |last=Boigon |first=Molly |date=January 13, 2021 |title=Is Gab's leadership as antisemitic as its users? |url=https://forward.com/news/462140/is-gabs-leadership-as-antisemitic-as-its-users/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115185021/https://forward.com/news/462140/is-gabs-leadership-as-antisemitic-as-its-users/ |archive-date=January 15, 2021 |access-date=January 17, 2021 |website=[[The Forward]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="getongab 2018b">{{cite tweet |number=1027641647407030277 |user=getongab |title=Gab Twitter posting |date=August 9, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180810031135/https://twitter.com/getongab/status/1027641647407030277 |archive-date=August 10, 2018}}</ref> The company's Twitter account also posted a tweet on August 9 alluding to the antisemitic trope of Jewish global control, saying "At some point you have to ask yourself: just who is pushing for the censorship?".<ref name="Boigon 2021" /> On October 31, 2018, ''The Washington Post'' pointed to two messages on Gab's Twitter account and wrote that they "raise questions about whether they cross the line into impropriety". One captioned a photo of two men, one with Jewish [[Payot|sidelocks]], with "These two guys show up at your front door. Who do you let in and who do you call the cops on?" before following it up with "I mean I'm calling the cops on both and getting my shotgun ready, just saying", and another argued for [[opposition to immigration]] by saying: "Let a bunch of [[Somalia]]ns migrate to your neighborhood and see if you change your mind".<ref name="Timberg 2018" /> Torba initially questioned the authenticity of the posts, suggesting they might be doctored images, later saying the posts were "clearly satire/comedy{{nbsp}}... to get people discussing the importance of free expression for satire, comedy, political discourse, and legitimate criticism", and then later saying they were "a few edgy tweets posted by interns". The tweets were later deleted.<ref name="Pagliery 2018" />
On January 14, 2021, Molly Boigon from ''The Forward'' noted that Gab's Twitter account had recently posted multiple tweets about Senior Adviser Jared Kushner's supposed influence on then-President Trump, which she described as a nod to the antisemitic trope about global [[Antisemitic canard|Jewish puppet masters]].<ref name="Boigon 2021" /> Gab's Twitter account had also recently posted a tweet questioning the legitimacy of antisemitism falling under hate speech.<ref name="Boigon 2021" /> In February 2021, Gab posted on their Twitter account that going forward, they would only respond to press inquiries from "Christian media compan[ies]", describing other publications as "pagan propogandists [''sic'']".<ref name="Andrews 2021">{{cite web |last1=Andrews |first1=Frank |last2=Pym |first2=Ambrose |date=February 24, 2021 |title=The Websites Sustaining Britain's Far-Right Influencers |url=https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2021/02/24/the-websites-sustaining-britains-far-right-influencers/ |access-date=February 25, 2021 |website=[[Bellingcat]] |language=en-GB |archive-date=February 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224170204/https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2021/02/24/the-websites-sustaining-britains-far-right-influencers/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In March 2021, Ali Breland reported in ''[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]]'' on private messages leaked in that month's data breach, which showed Torba welcoming [[Iranian Americans|Iranian-American]] alt-right personality [[Roosh V]] and praising another Gab user, the antisemitic writer E. Michael Jones. Oren Segal of the ADL said that the messages seemed "to show that Torba has a direct appreciation for individuals that promote antisemitism and hate".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Breland |first=Ali |date=March 10, 2021 |title=Gab's CEO courted prominent anti-Semites for his site |url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/03/andrew-torba-anti-semites/ |access-date=March 10, 2021 |website=[[Mother Jones (website)|Mother Jones]] |language=en-US |archive-date=March 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310111958/https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/03/andrew-torba-anti-semites/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In June 2021, Torba criticized Rumble for changing its terms of service to prohibit antisemitic hate speech and questioned why the platform did not also prohibit "Anti-White hatred".<ref name="Mak 2021" /> Also in June 2021, Tom McKay from ''Gizmodo'' wrote that "Torba is perhaps best known for furious diatribes in which he characterizes claims that he or his shitty site is racist or anti-Semitic as left-wing media smears, despite bounteous evidence suggesting that is exactly what they are".<ref>{{Cite web |last=McKay |first=Tom |date=June 30, 2021 |title=Far-Right Site Gab Is Very Mad Their Favorite One-Term President Passed on Them |url=https://gizmodo.com/far-right-site-gab-is-very-mad-their-favorite-one-term-1847204130 |access-date=July 1, 2021 |website=Gizmodo |language=en-us |archive-date=July 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210703140722/https://gizmodo.com/far-right-site-gab-is-very-mad-their-favorite-one-term-1847204130 |url-status=live }}</ref>
On October 13, 2021, Torba used Gab's Twitter account to praise E. Michael Jones, an antisemitic [[Catholicity|Catholic]] writer, calling him a "brilliant and faithful Christian man" who will be "one of the most respected thinkers of our time" when "we win." Jones has claimed that Jews are dedicated to attacking the [[Catholic Church]] and [[Western culture|western civilization]].<ref name="Torba Broadcasts His Antisemitism">{{Cite web |date=December 15, 2022 |title=Gab CEO Andrew Torba Broadcasts His Antisemitism Across Social Media Platforms |url=https://www.adl.org/blog/gab-ceo-andrew-torba-broadcasts-his-antisemitism-across-social-media-platforms |access-date=February 11, 2022 |website=Anti-Defamation League |language=en |archive-date=February 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220202231025/https://www.adl.org/blog/gab-ceo-andrew-torba-broadcasts-his-antisemitism-across-social-media-platforms |url-status=live }}</ref>
On October 17, 2021, Torba used Gab's Twitter account to tweet a screenshot of a post from a Gab user named "Kitler". The post states that "if you're a White person living in America today and you don't know what happened to the kulaks in russia [sic] 100 years ago, you should look it up. Something very similar is happening to you right now, and the same group of people is behind it." The Gab post alludes to the belief that Jews were responsible for the [[1917 Russian Revolution]] and communism while also implying that Jews were responsible for the subsequent efforts by the [[Bolsheviks]] to seize land from [[kulak]]s (wealthy farmers) and deport kulaks to the remote regions of the [[Soviet Union]]. One user replied to Gab's tweet with a screenshot of a page from Adolf Hitler's ''[[Mein Kampf]]''.<ref name="Torba Broadcasts His Antisemitism" />
Line 248 ⟶ 251:
In August 2022, in response to an interview of ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, Torba said that "We're not bending the knee to the 2 percent anymore", in reference to the percentage of Jewish people in the United States.<ref name="Gabriel 2022" />
As of February 1, 2024, Gab has blocked anyone with an Israeli IP address from using their service or accessing content.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Eichner |first=Itamar |date=2024-02-01 |title=Far-right platform 'Gab' bans Israelis from using site |url=https://www.ynetnews.com/business/article/r1bwy5k96 |access-date=2024-02-26 |work=Ynetnews |language=en |archive-date=February 26, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226030600/https://www.ynetnews.com/business/article/r1bwy5k96 |url-status=live }}</ref>
=== Violence and terrorism policy ===
Line 255 ⟶ 258:
Terrorism researcher and [[Queen's University at Kingston|Queen's University]] in Kingston, professor [[Amarnath Amarasingam]] has said that Gab's position as neither extremely mainstream nor obscure service has allowed extremists to permeate the website and access an audience they would not be able to have on a more popular service, where they would be more likely to be banned.<ref name="Makuch 2019" />
Gab has denied that terror groups flourish on the website, saying in a statement to ''[[Vice (magazine)|Motherboard]]'' in July 2019: "We don't want them, we strongly discourage them from joining and we ban them when they cross the line, as they often do". However, Ben Makuch of ''Motherboard'' wrote that neo-Nazi terrorist groups have "enjoyed months-long, unfettered stints posting their content on Gab to a significant audience". In addition to calls for terrorist attacks, mass killings against minorities, offline armed training recruitments and white supremacist propaganda accumulated on Gab, Makuch pointed to one Gab post, from a user who is a member of
=== Moderation policy ===
Line 262 ⟶ 265:
In January 2021, Jazmin Goodwin of [[CNN]] described Gab's moderation as "lax" and that this "approach on content has made way for a slew of QAnon conspiracy theories, misinformation and anti-Semitic commentary on the platform, among lots of vile hatred and racist posts – much of wouldn't be allowed on today's well-known social apps".<ref name="Goodwin 2021" /> In October 2021, Cristiano Lima of ''The Washington Post'' described Gab's moderation as "[[laissez-faire]]".<ref name="Lima 2021" />
In a 2022 email, Torba said that "We tolerate 'offensive' but legal speech", that "We believe that a moderation policy which adheres to the First Amendment, thereby permitting offensive content to rise to the surface, is a valuable and necessary utility to society.", and that "Supporting the mission of freedom online means having the stomach to accept that people will say 'edgy and offensive' things".<ref name="What is Gab" /><ref name="Klepper 2022">{{Cite web |date=February 5, 2022 |title=A year after Trump purge, 'alt-tech' platform offers far-right refuge |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/after-trump-purge-alt-tech-social-media-platform-gab-a-far-right-refuge/TUWCWQXTQYXIHQMJVAK42YYIKQ/ |access-date=February 6, 2022 |website=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |publisher=[[Associated Press]] |language=en-NZ |archive-date=February 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220207192045/https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/after-trump-purge-alt-tech-social-media-platform-gab-a-far-right-refuge/TUWCWQXTQYXIHQMJVAK42YYIKQ/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In June 2022, Torba told CNN that "Gab permits all lawful political speech that is protected by the First Amendment—including speech about inherently political topics such as the charge and punishment of treason through the US judicial system. When discussion crosses into direct and imminent threats of violence we will take action and work with our partners in law enforcement to mitigate any threats to the public."<ref>{{Cite web |last1=O'Sullivan |first1=Donie |last2=Wild |first2=Whitney |date=2022-06-22 |title='Hang them all': January 6 committee members target of violent rhetoric on right-wing social media platforms |url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/22/tech/online-threats-jan-6-committee/index.html |access-date=2022-06-26 |website=CNN |archive-date=June 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220626054116/https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/22/tech/online-threats-jan-6-committee/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Hosting and termination of services by web services providers==
Line 272 ⟶ 275:
Gab returned online on November 4, 2018, after [[Epik]] agreed to [[Domain registration|register]] the domain, and Sibyl Systems Ltd. began to provide webhosting.<ref name="Chigilli Palli 2018">{{cite news |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/4629743/gab-com-back-online-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooter |title=Gab.com, site where suspected Pittsburgh synagogue shooter posted anti-Semitic views, is back online |last=Chigilli Palli |first=Ishita |date=November 4, 2018 |publisher=[[Global News]] |access-date=November 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122054050/https://globalnews.ca/news/4629743/gab-com-back-online-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooter/ |archive-date=November 22, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Baker 2018" /> Epik is an American company that provides domain registration and other web services, and is known for providing services to websites that host far-right, neo-Nazi, and other extremist content.<ref name="Baker 2018a">{{Cite web |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/business/technology/seattle-area-company-helps-fringe-site-gab-return-in-wake-of-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting/ |title=Seattle-area company helps fringe site Gab return in wake of Pittsburgh synagogue shooting |last=Baker |first=Mike |date=November 4, 2018 |website=[[The Seattle Times]] |language=en-US |access-date=May 5, 2019 |archive-date=May 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505044026/https://www.seattletimes.com/business/technology/seattle-area-company-helps-fringe-site-gab-return-in-wake-of-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Martineau 2018">{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/story/how-right-wing-social-media-site-gab-got-back-online/ |title=How Right-Wing Social Media Site Gab Got Back Online |last=Martineau |first=Paris |date=November 6, 2018 |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |access-date=May 5, 2019 |issn=1059-1028 |archive-date=May 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502214807/https://www.wired.com/story/how-right-wing-social-media-site-gab-got-back-online/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Macuk 2019">{{Cite web |url=https://www.columbian.com/news/2019/feb/15/epik-buys-vancouver-based-bitmitigate/ |title=Epik buys Vancouver-based BitMitigate |last=Macuk |first=Anthony |date=February 15, 2019 |website=[[The Columbian]] |language=en |access-date=May 10, 2019 |archive-date=May 10, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190510171545/https://www.columbian.com/news/2019/feb/15/epik-buys-vancouver-based-bitmitigate/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Sibyl Systems was founded on October 22, 2018, days before the shooting that resulted in Gab's termination from their previous webhost, and according to the SPLC, was possibly based in [[Norway]] or [[England]].<ref name="Dougherty 2019" /> Sibyl was later acquired by Epik<ref>{{Cite web |last=Squire |first=Megan |date=July 23, 2019 |title=Can Alt-Tech Help the Far Right Build an Alternate Internet? |url=https://www.fairobserver.com/business/technology/alt-tech-far-right-online-extremism-hate-speech-technology-news-19919/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200918141929/https://www.fairobserver.com/business/technology/alt-tech-far-right-online-extremism-hate-speech-technology-news-19919/ |archive-date=September 18, 2020 |access-date=January 14, 2021 |website=[[Fair Observer]] |language=en-US}}</ref> in the second quarter of 2019.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hackney |first=Raymond |date=August 30, 2019 |title=How low will .coms at Epik go? Namepros members will decide |url=https://tldinvestors.com/2019/08/how-low-will-coms-at-epik-go-namepros-members-will-decide.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030185755/https://tldinvestors.com/2019/08/how-low-will-coms-at-epik-go-namepros-members-will-decide.html |archive-date=October 30, 2020 |access-date=January 14, 2021 |website=TLD Investors |language=en-US}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=January 2021}}
In August 2019, Amazon Web Services ceased serving Gab's fundraising site due to Gab violating Amazon's policy on hateful content.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Mac |first1=Ryan |last2=Broderick |first2=Ryan |date=August 6, 2019 |title=Far-Right Haven Gab.com Had Its Fundraising Site Shut Down By Amazon |url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/far-right-haven-gabcom-had-its-fundraising-site-shut-down |access-date=January 26, 2021 |website=BuzzFeed News |language=en |archive-date=January 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120001449/https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/far-right-haven-gabcom-had-its-fundraising-site-shut-down |url-status=live }}</ref> In response, Torba said he welcomed Amazon's decision, claiming that media coverage of the decision had only brought more attention to Gab and resulted in investment offers.<ref name="Gilbert 2019a" />
{{As of|2021|01}}, Gab was still using Epik as a domain registrar. Instead of hosting its service in the cloud, ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' reported that Gab had been renting hardware in an undisclosed data center. Gab was also using services from [[Cloudflare]].<ref name="McMillan 2021">{{Cite news |last1=McMillan |first1=Robert |last2=Tilley |first2=Aaron |date=January 12, 2021 |title=Parler Faces Complex, Costly Route to Getting Back Online |language=en-US |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/parler-faces-obstacles-to-getting-back-online-11610474343 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=January 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210113102035/https://www.wsj.com/articles/parler-faces-obstacles-to-getting-back-online-11610474343 |archive-date=January 13, 2021 |issn=0099-9660}}</ref>
==Reception==
Gab has been described as "Twitter for racists" by progressive news outlet ''[[Salon (website)|Salon]]'',<ref name="Benson 2016">{{Cite news |last=Benson |first=Thor |date=November 5, 2016 |title=Inside the "Twitter for racists": Gab — the site where Milo Yiannopoulos goes to troll now |work=[[Salon (website)|Salon]] |url=http://www.salon.com/2016/11/05/inside-the-twitter-for-racists-gab-the-site-where-milo-yiannopoulos-goes-to-troll-now/ |url-status=live |access-date=December 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170617110025/http://www.salon.com/2016/11/05/inside-the-twitter-for-racists-gab-the-site-where-milo-yiannopoulos-goes-to-troll-now/ |archive-date=June 17, 2017}}</ref> a "hate-filled echo chamber of racism and conspiracy theories" by ''[[The Guardian]]'',<ref name="Anthony 2016">{{Cite news |last=Anthony |first=Andrew |date=December 17, 2016 |title=Inside the hate-filled echo chamber of racism and conspiracy theories |work=[[The Observer]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/dec/18/gab-the-social-network-for-the-alt-right |url-status=live |access-date=June 6, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170627025440/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/dec/18/gab-the-social-network-for-the-alt-right |archive-date=June 27, 2017}}</ref> an "online cesspool of anti-Semitism" by ''Politico Magazine'',<ref name="Katz 2018"/> a "safe haven for banned Twitter trolls, [[Gamergate (harassment campaign)|Gamergaters]], [[Pizzagate]]rs and high-profile white nationalists" by ''Mic'',<ref name="Ehrenkranz 2017"/> "the far-right's favorite social network" by ''The Verge'',<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/6/16259150/gab-ai-registrar-andrew-anglin-daily-stormer-crackdown |title=The far-right's favorite social network is facing its own censorship controversy |last=Robertson |first=Adi |date=September 6, 2017 |website=[[The Verge]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170906170735/https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/6/16259150/gab-ai-registrar-andrew-anglin-daily-stormer-crackdown |archive-date=September 6, 2017 |access-date=February 11, 2019}}</ref> "the [[Make America Great Again]] of social sites" by ''The New York Times<ref name="Hess 2016" />'' and "an almost anti-Twitter" by [[NPR]].<ref name="Allyn 2021" /> ''Wired'' criticized Gab for not explicitly prohibiting hate speech.<ref name="Ellis 2016"/> Scholars have described Gab as "hateful", and named Gab along with 4chan and [[8chan]] as directly radicalizing men who went on to commit violent acts.<ref name="Ribeiro 2021">{{Cite conference |last1=Ribeiro |first1=Manoel Horta |last2=Blackburn |last3=Bradlyn |first3=Barry |first2=Jeremy |last4=De Cristofaro |first4=Emiliano |last5=Stringhini |first5=Gianluca |last6=Long |first6=Summer |last7=Greenberg |first7=Stephanie |last8=Zannettou |first8=Savvas |display-authors=3 |title=The Evolution of the Manosphere Across the Web |book-title=Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media |date=2021 |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=196–207 |isbn=978-1-57735-869-5 |url=https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/ICWSM/article/view/18053/17856 |doi=10.1609/icwsm.v15i1.18053 |doi-access=free |issn=2334-0770 |publisher=Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence |location=Palo Alto, Calif. |arxiv=2001.07600v5 |access-date=January 9, 2024 |archive-date=September 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240901235007/https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/ICWSM/article/view/18053/17856 |url-status=live }}</ref> The SPLC characterized Gab as a site where its users are "radicalized aggressively". Heidi Beirich, a director of the center, stated that the site is "the number one place nowadays where white supremacists gather".<ref name="Murray 2018">{{Cite news |last=Murray |first=Ashley |date=December 31, 2018 |title=Gab.com, social platform favored by alleged Tree of Life gunman, boasts amid probe |work=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]] |url=https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-nation/2018/12/31/Gab-robert-bowers-tree-of-life-epik-monster-anti-semitism/stories/201812310115 |url-status=live |access-date=January 20, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190120225610/https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-nation/2018/12/31/Gab-robert-bowers-tree-of-life-epik-monster-anti-semitism/stories/201812310115 |archive-date=January 20, 2019}}</ref> The ADL called Gab a "fringe online community" and "a bastion of hatred and bigotry".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gab and 8chan: Home to Terrorist Plots Hiding in Plain Sight |url=https://www.adl.org/resources/reports/gab-and-8chan-home-to-terrorist-plots-hiding-in-plain-sight |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503005123/https://www.adl.org/resources/reports/gab-and-8chan-home-to-terrorist-plots-hiding-in-plain-sight |archive-date=May 3, 2019 |access-date=May 3, 2019 |website= |publisher=Anti-Defamation League}}</ref>
Harrison Kaminsky of ''[[Digital Trends]]'' questioned the site's longevity in September 2016, writing: "While the site's initial popularity is impressive, the potential is most likely short-lived, following the life cycle of social networks like Ello or [[Peach (social network)|Peach]], which faded over time".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/gab-ai-promises-freedom-of-speech/ |title=New social network Gab.ai preaches freedom of expression for internet users |last=Kaminsky |first=Harrison |date=September 11, 2016 |website=[[Digital Trends]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160912055044/https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/gab-ai-promises-freedom-of-speech/ |archive-date=September 12, 2016 |access-date=February 27, 2019}}</ref> Maya Kosoff of ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'' wrote in September 2016: "the point of Gab may not be to grow to be a Twitter competitor{{nbsp}}... it's providing a 'safe space' for people who want to express themselves without consequence".<ref>{{Cite web |title=An Uncensored New Social Network Offers Conservatives a "Safe Space" |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/09/an-uncensored-new-social-network-offers-conservatives-a-safe-space |last=Kosoff |first=Maya |date=September 12, 2016 |website=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|The Hive]] |url-access=limited |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312151051/https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/09/an-uncensored-new-social-network-offers-conservatives-a-safe-space |archive-date=March 12, 2018 |access-date=June 2, 2019}}</ref> [[Amanda Hess]], a critic at ''The New York Times'', opined in November 2016 that the site is: "a throwback to the freewheeling norms of the old internet, before Twitter started cracking down on harassment and Reddit cleaned out its darkest corners. And since its debut in August, it has emerged as a digital safe space for the [[far right]], where white nationalists, conspiracy-theorist YouTubers, and minivan majority moms can gather without liberal interference".<ref name="Hess 2016" /> BBC News wrote in December 2016 that Gab has "become the go-to social network for an extreme group of activists who have been chucked off of Twitter" and that "Its top hashtags list is a conservative dream. It's peppered with trends like #Trump, #MAGA ("Make America Great Again" - Trump's campaign slogan) along with far-right obsessions like Dump Star Wars and the Pizzagate conspiracy hoax".<ref name="Free Speech Haven" />
[[Jeremy Carl]] of conservative magazine ''[[National Review]]'' opined in August 2017: "Contrast the free hand given to left-wing offensive speech to the strict controls put on right-wing speech. As just one of many examples, Gab— a free-speech social network that has grown rapidly to almost a quarter million users since its public launch just a few months ago, was just yesterday kicked off the Android app store (it has already been repeatedly denied at Apple) for "hate speech". To be clear, not all the voices on Gab are mellifluous, they have accepted a number of folks, often from the far right, who have been banned from other social networks (though this is a small portion of Gab's user base)" and "If Google and Apple are banning Gab, mainstream conservatives are crazy to think they are safe".<ref>{{cite web |last=Carl |first=Jeremy |date=August 18, 2017 |title='Is this the Day the Internet Dies?' |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/censoring-web-after-charlottesville-day-internet-dies/ |access-date=August 8, 2021 |website=[[National Review]] |language=en-US |archive-date=August 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808180843/https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/censoring-web-after-charlottesville-day-internet-dies/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Cheryl K. Chumley of conservative newspaper ''[[The Washington Times]]'' opined in October 2018: "with help from like-minded free thinkers, Gab can beat the leftists running these Internet sites at their own game — and in so doing, become the model for "what could one day be" for the conservative world on social media".<ref>{{Cite web |last=K. Chumley |first=Cheryl |date=October 4, 2018 |title=Gab, the conservative alternative to Twitter, now under censor attack |url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/oct/4/gab-conservative-alternative-twitter-now-under-cen/ |access-date=August 13, 2021 |website=[[The Washington Times]] |language=en-US |archive-date=June 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210628190955/https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/oct/4/gab-conservative-alternative-twitter-now-under-cen/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Joe Setyon reviewed the social network for libertarian magazine ''[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]]'' in October 2018, writing: "in fighting the alleged left-leaning political bias of the legacy social media platforms, Gab ran into the opposite problem". He suggested that the website was only for those who "subscribe to a certain radical subset of right-wing beliefs or are interested in seeing the feeds of those who do".<ref>{{cite web |title=Ready to Get Off Facebook? Reason Reviews 5 Alternative Social Networks. |url=https://reason.com/2018/10/29/ready-to-get-off-facebook-reason-reviews/ |last=Setyon |first=Joe |date=October 26, 2018 |work=[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190715041427/https://reason.com/2018/10/29/ready-to-get-off-facebook-reason-reviews/ |archive-date=July 15, 2019 |access-date=July 15, 2019}}</ref> Nicholas Thompson of ''Wired'' questioned the sincerity of the site's claim to be a defender for "free speech" in October 2018, writing: "To many people, Torba's [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]] absolutism is just a talking point. The site exists less to defend the ideals of [[Benjamin Franklin]] than those of Christopher Cantwell. It chose as its logo a creature that looks rather like Pepe, the alt-right attack frog. It courted people on the far right, and it became a haven for them. Free speech can be less a principle than a smokescreen". Thompson noted that Robert Bowers likely expected affirmation from his last message that indicated his intent to carry out the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre, leading Thompson to the conclusion: "if it's a platform where someone can expect affirmation for threatening slaughter, then why should anyone help it exist?"<ref name="Thompson 2018">{{Cite magazine |last=Thompson |first=Nicholas |date=October 29, 2018 |title=Goodbye Gab, a Haven for the Far Right |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |url=https://www.wired.com/story/gab-offline-free-speech-alt-right/ |url-status=live |access-date=January 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190124041509/https://www.wired.com/story/gab-offline-free-speech-alt-right/ |archive-date=January 24, 2019}}</ref>
Kelly Weill of ''The Daily Beast'' wrote in January 2019: "Gab has always been a bad website. Nothing loads, the search function is a joke, and its member rolls are riddled with porn bots. And that's even without the neo-Nazis posting racist memes and goading each other to murder".<ref name="Weill 2019">{{cite news |last=Weill |first=Kelly |date=January 30, 2019 |title=Gab Is in Full Meltdown, and Its Founder Blames the 'Deep State' |work=[[The Daily Beast]] |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/gab-is-in-full-meltdown-and-founder-andrew-torba-blames-the-deep-state |url-status=live |access-date=February 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190201143915/https://www.thedailybeast.com/gab-is-in-full-meltdown-and-founder-andrew-torba-blames-the-deep-state |archive-date=February 1, 2019}}</ref> In February 2020, Tanya Basu of ''[[MIT Technology Review]]'' characterized Gab as being frequented by "fringe far-right hate groups".<ref name="Basu 2020">{{Cite web |last=Basu |first=Tanya |date=February 7, 2020 |title=The "manosphere" is getting more toxic as angry men join the incels |url=https://www.technologyreview.com/s/615155/the-manosphere-is-getting-more-toxic-as-angry-men-join-the-incels/ |url-access=limited |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200324170434/https://www.technologyreview.com/s/615155/the-manosphere-is-getting-more-toxic-as-angry-men-join-the-incels/ |archive-date=March 24, 2020 |access-date=February 9, 2020 |work=[[MIT Technology Review]]}}</ref> In January 2021, Travis M. Andrews of ''The Washington Post'' said that Gab "has welcomed extremist right-wing figures and believers of QAnon, the loose collection of conspiracy theories that touch on everything from politics to COVID-19".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Andrews |first=Travis M. |date=January 11, 2021 |title=Gab, the social network that has welcomed Qanon and extremist figures, explained |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/01/11/gab-social-network/ |access-date=January 15, 2021 |issn=0190-8286 |url-access=limited |archive-date=January 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113134106/https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/01/11/gab-social-network/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In August 2021, Jacob Silverman of ''The New Republic'' wrote that Torba is "Trying to Build a White, Christian, Secessionist Tech Industry" and that Torba "represents the new, even more right-wing alternative to Silicon Valley".<ref name="Silverman 2021" /> In September 2021, Whitney Kimball of ''Gizmodo'' wrote that Gab is "currently fashioning itself as an [[Mask refusal|anti-mask]] [[LinkedIn]] with a job board and guidelines for getting [[Vaccine hesitancy|vaccine exemptions]]".<ref name="Kimball 2021" /> In December 2021, David Gilbert of ''Vice News'' called Gab "a Christian-focused social network".<ref name="Gilbert 2021">{{Cite web |last=Gilbert |first=David |date=December 15, 2021 |title=Trump's Social Media Company Just Partnered With a QAnon Video Site |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkpaeb/truth-social-partnering-with-rumble |access-date=December 15, 2021 |website=Vice News |language=en |archive-date=December 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211215161647/https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkpaeb/truth-social-partnering-with-rumble |url-status=live }}</ref>
In February 2022, the [[Associated Press]] wrote that "Offensive content is easy to find on Gab. A search turns up user names featuring [[List of ethnic slurs|racial epithets]], as well as antisemitic screeds, neo-Nazi fantasies and homophobic rants."<ref name="Klepper 2022" /> In June 2022, the Stanford Internet Observatory said that "While sites such as Parler and [[Gettr]] generally cater to a broader base of right-wing users, the far-right platform Gab hews more toward an openly white Christian nationalist demographic."<ref name="Dynamics on Alt-Platform" />
A May 2022 [[Pew Research Center]] poll found that 11 percent of American adults had heard of Gab, while 1 percent of American adults get their news from Gab regularly. In addition, 79 percent of Gab profiles expressed a value or political orientation, 35 percent of profiles express right-leaning or pro-Trump values, 37 percent express a religious identity and an additional 37 percent express patriotism or pro-American values. A previous September audit of Gab by Pew Research found that Gab is the only platform out of seven alt-tech platforms examined that has not removed posts for misinformation, harassment or offensive content. A previous June 2022 review of Gab content by Pew Research found that of the 200 prominent Gab accounts, 80 percent posted about [[gun]]s, 74 percent posted about [[abortion]], 73 percent posted about [[LGBT]] issues, 70 percent discussed vaccines, and 69 percent had posted about the January 6 Capitol attack.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=St. Aubin |first1=Christopher |last2=Stocking |first2=Galen |date=January 24, 2023 |title=Key facts about Gab |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/01/24/key-facts-about-gab/ |access-date=2023-06-17 |website=Pew Research Center |language=en-US |archive-date=September 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240901235005/https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/01/24/key-facts-about-gab/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
In October 2022, Mira Fox of the ''St. Louis Jewish Light'' wrote that "when I opened up [Gab] to write this piece, one of the first posts I saw, with 1,500 likes, explained that any hatred of Black people and Jews isn't racist because it's based on 'their behavior,' not ethnicity. Many of the replies took issue with this position — because it was not racist enough. As one person succinctly put it in the comments, 'Jews are inbred parasites.'".<ref name="Fox 2022a" />
Line 295 ⟶ 298:
Milo Yiannopoulos, an active user of Gab who joined after being deplatformed from Facebook and Twitter, complained in September 2019 about the low number of users on Gab, Parler, and [[Telegram (software)|Telegram]]. He wrote on Telegram that, after losing his large fanbases on Facebook and Twitter, he was having difficulty sustaining his career due to the relatively small number of users on the alternative social networks. He described Gab as "relentlessly, exhaustingly hostile and jam packed full of teen racists who totally dictate the tone and discussion".<ref name="Uberti 2019">{{Cite web |last=Uberti |first=David |date=September 9, 2019 |title=Milo Yiannopoulos Says He's Broke |url=https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/59n99q/milo-yiannopoulos-says-hes-broke |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200904015932/https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/59n99q/milo-yiannopoulos-says-hes-broke |archive-date=September 4, 2020 |access-date=August 15, 2020 |website=[[Vice (magazine)|Vice]] |language=en}}</ref>
In March 2021, [[Texas]] [[List of governors of Texas|Governor]] [[Greg Abbott]] condemned Gab, stating "anti-Semitic platforms like Gab have no place in Texas".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Svitek |first=Patrick |date=March 11, 2021 |title=Social network Gab fuels latest conflict among Texas Republicans |work=[[Texas Tribune]] |url=https://www.click2houston.com/news/texas/2021/03/12/social-network-gab-fuels-latest-conflict-among-texas-republicans/ |access-date=March 13, 2021 |archive-date=March 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210312233130/https://www.click2houston.com/news/texas/2021/03/12/social-network-gab-fuels-latest-conflict-among-texas-republicans/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
In October 2021, pro-Trump Republican pundit Bill Mitchell ran a poll on Gab asking if people would attend a [[Church (building)|Christian church]] where the [[pastor]] uses the word "[[nigger]]" in their [[sermon]]s. More than 2,000 voted and nearly two-thirds answered "Yes", prompting Mitchell to say on Gab that "As you can see from this poll so far, there are A LOT of racists on Gab" and that "It's not just a small noisy group." He also complained of having to block "over 100 accounts a day.", claimed that big accounts on Gab are "flatlining because of all the hate speech", and encouraged people to join Gettr, a conservative social media platform. Mitchell called on Torba to ban racist users on Gab "or Gab will never be taken seriously by the general public." In response, Torba said "Go over to dopey [[Jason Miller (communications strategist)|Jason Miller]]'s Chinese billionaire-funded AI-censored hugbox for Israel-first [[Republican In Name Only|RINO]] losers if you want a safe space to shout into the wind of bot accounts and Chinese nationals posing as Americans that make up the community over there". Mitchell later announced that he would leave Gab before changing his mind, saying "I think I'll just stay on Gab forever", "But from here on out, no more Mr. Nice Guy."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Goforth |first=Claire |date=October 15, 2021 |title=MAGA pundit Bill Mitchell issues ultimatum: I'm quitting Gab because it's 'racist' |url=https://www.dailydot.com/debug/pro-trump-pundit-quit-gab-racist/ |access-date=November 2, 2021 |website=The Daily Dot |language=en-US |archive-date=November 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211101024030/https://www.dailydot.com/debug/pro-trump-pundit-quit-gab-racist/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
Gab is one of a number of alternative social network platforms, including [[Minds (social network)|Minds]], [[MeWe]], Parler, and [[BitChute]], that are popular with people banned from mainstream networks such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, and [[Instagram]].<ref name="Moore 2019">{{cite news |last=Moore |first=Chadwick |date=May 7, 2019 |title=A complete guide to finding your favorite banned celebrity online |work=[[Spectator USA]] |url=https://spectator.us/guide-finding-banned-celebrity-online/ |url-status=live |access-date=May 28, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190618063520/https://spectator.us/guide-finding-banned-celebrity-online/ |archive-date=June 18, 2019}}</ref><ref name="Rahman 2020">{{Cite web |last=Rahman |first=Abid |date=June 24, 2020 |title="I'm Done": Right-Wing Personalities Ditching Twitter for Parler Over Claims of Censorship |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/right-wing-personalities-ditch-twitter-parler-claims-censorship-1300328 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200627222847/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/right-wing-personalities-ditch-twitter-parler-claims-censorship-1300328 |archive-date=June 27, 2020 |access-date=June 29, 2020 |website=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |language=en}}</ref> Deen Freelon and colleagues writing in ''[[Science (journal)|Science]]'' characterized Gab as among alt-tech sites that are "dedicated to right-wing communities", and listed the site along with 4chan, 8chan, BitChute, and Parler. They noted there are also more ideologically neutral alt-tech platforms, such as [[Discord (software)|Discord]] and Telegram.<ref name="Freelon 2020">{{Cite journal |last1=Freelon |first1=Deen |last2=Marwick |first2=Alice |last3=Kreiss |first3=Daniel |date=September 4, 2020 |title=False equivalencies: Online activism from left to right |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |language=en |volume=369 |issue=6508 |pages=1197–1201 |doi=10.1126/science.abb2428 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=32883863 |bibcode=2020Sci...369.1197F |doi-access=free}}</ref> Joe Mulhall of the UK anti-racism group [[Hope not Hate|Hope Not Hate]] has categorized Gab among the "bespoke platforms" for the far-right, which he defines as platforms which were created by people who themselves have "far-right leanings". He distinguishes these from "co-opted platforms" such as [[DLive]] and Telegram, which were adopted by the far-right due to minimal moderation but not specifically created for their use.<ref name="Andrews 2021" />
=== Chinese government influence operations ===
In September 2023, ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' reported that Gab was targeted by a [[Government of China|Chinese government]] [[Influence operations|influence operation]] called [[Spamouflage]], which aimed to spread disinformation and state [[Propaganda in China|propaganda]].<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Dustin |first1=Volz |last2=Needleman |first2=Sarah E. |date=September 7, 2023 |title=Chinese Propagandists Set Up Shop on Fringe Social-Media Site, Researchers Say |url=https://www.wsj.com/world/china/chinese-propagandists-set-up-shop-on-fringe-social-media-site-researchers-say-71bebfe6 |url-access=subscription |access-date=2023-09-10 |website=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |language=en-US |archive-date=September 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230910041218/https://www.wsj.com/world/china/chinese-propagandists-set-up-shop-on-fringe-social-media-site-researchers-say-71bebfe6 |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Company ==
Gab was founded by CEO Andrew Torba and CTO Ekrem Büyükkaya<ref name="Wolverton 2018" /> and the company was incorporated on September 9, 2016.<ref name="SEC 2019" />
Torba, who described himself in 2016 as a lifelong "conservative Republican [[Christianity|Christian]]", was previously removed from the [[Y Combinator (company)|Y Combinator]] alumni network in 2016 because of harassment concerns, starting when he used [[Build the Wall|"build the wall"]] on Twitter alongside a screenshot of a post by a Latino startup founder that read: "being a [[African Americans|black]], [[Muslims|Muslim]] or woman in the USA is going to be very scary".<ref name="Ha 2016">{{Cite news |last=Ha |first=Anthony |date=November 12, 2016 |title=Pro-Trump CEO gets booted from Y Combinator over harassment concerns |work=[[TechCrunch]] |url=https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/12/pro-trump-ceo-gets-booted-from-y-combinator/ |url-status=live |access-date=June 5, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170529125612/https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/12/pro-trump-ceo-gets-booted-from-y-combinator/ |archive-date=May 29, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Tiku |first=Natasha |date=November 12, 2016 |title=Trump-Supporting CEO Kicked Out Of Y Combinator Startup Incubator |work=[[BuzzFeed News]] |url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/nitashatiku/trump-supporting-startup-ceo-kicked-out-of-y-combinator |url-status=live |access-date=June 5, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170518100230/https://www.buzzfeed.com/nitashatiku/trump-supporting-startup-ceo-kicked-out-of-y-combinator |archive-date=May 18, 2017}}</ref> He also made a post on Facebook that said "All of you: fuck off. Take your morally superior, elitist, virtue signaling bullshit and shove it" and "I call it like I see it, and I helped meme a President into office, cucks".<ref name="Ha 2016" /> Until 2016, Torba was registered as a Democrat, although he voted Republican in presidential elections.<ref name="Ehrenkranz 2017" /> In 2017, Torba described himself as a "cultural libertarian", a [[Classical liberalism|classical liberal]], and an "[[American nationalism|American nationalist]] patriot".<ref name="Ehrenkranz 2017" /> As of 2021, Torba says that he lives in a "forest in Pennsylvania", where he is plotting a "Silent Christian Secession".<ref name="Jenkins 2021" /> As of 2021, Torba has a policy of "not communicating with non-Christian and/or communist journos".<ref name="Jenkins 2021" /><ref name="Lee 2021" /> In April 2021, Torba endorsed [[accelerationism]], a term used by white supremacists to mean intensifying social conflicts and collapse.<ref name="Five Things to Know">{{Cite web |date=2022-08-19 |title=Andrew Torba: Five Things to Know |url=https://www.adl.org/resources/blog/andrew-torba-five-things-know-0 |access-date=2022-09-01 |website=ADL |language=en |archive-date=September 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220905170846/https://www.adl.org/resources/blog/andrew-torba-five-things-know-0 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2022, Torba described himself as a Christian nationalist.<ref name="What is Gab" /> In November 2022, Torba wrote that "The Jews in positions of power do not care that you have the freedom of speech in this country, they care that people like Ye have the freedom to reach a lot of people and criticize their power and oversized influence in our culture, government, and society."<ref name="Five Things to Know" /> In January 2023, Torba called [[ChatGPT]] "satanic" and advocated for Christians to build an [[artificial intelligence]] "for the glory of God."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Teh |first=Cheryl |date=February 22, 2023 |title=The CEO of far-right network Gab says AIs like ChatGPT are 'satanic' and floats creating a Christian one to fight back |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/chat-gpt-satanic-gab-ceo-christian-ai-better-2023-2 |access-date=2023-06-17 |website=Business Insider |language=en-US |archive-date=December 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202035555/https://www.businessinsider.com/chat-gpt-satanic-gab-ceo-christian-ai-better-2023-2 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Utsav Sanduja later joined Gab as COO.<ref name="Timberg 2018" /> Sanduja left the company in June 2018. In an interview with ''ABC News'', Sanduja said that his wife, who works at a [[synagogue]], had been doxed and received [[death threat]]s while he worked at Gab: "apparently some of her personal information was found out and my family and I went through quite a lot of abuse, a systemic targeting from really vicious people, and honestly it just took a toll on us mentally".<ref name="Whelan 2018">{{cite news |last=Whelan |first=Aubrey |date=October 28, 2018 |title=What is Gab, the social media network frequented by the Pittsburgh shooter? |work=[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]] |url=https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-gab-social-media-network-andrew-torba-20181028.html |url-status=live |access-date=October 30, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181030170606/http://www2.philly.com/philly/news/pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-gab-social-media-network-andrew-torba-20181028.html |archive-date=October 30, 2018}}</ref> On October 28, Büyükkaya announced his resignation from Gab the day after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, citing "attacks from the American press" that "ha[d] taken a toll on [him] personally".<ref name="Timberg 2018" /><ref name="Fisher 2018" /> In November 2020, former Facebook [[software engineer]] Fosco Marotto joined Gab as CTO.<ref name="Goodin 2021" />
Line 334 ⟶ 337:
On June 19, 2020, Torba claimed that he, his wife, and Gab had been "blacklisted" by [[Visa Inc.|Visa]] for "promoting hate speech".<ref name="Conklin 2020" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Torba |first=Andrew |date=June 19, 2020 |title=Gab Has Been Blacklisted By Visa |url=https://news.gab.com/2020/06/19/gab-blacklisted-by-visa/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303015136/https://news.gab.com/2020/06/19/gab-blacklisted-by-visa/ |archive-date=March 3, 2021 |access-date=March 11, 2021 |website=Gab News |publisher=Gab |language=en-US}}</ref> Gab was also deplatformed from [[PayPal]].<ref name="Zeng 2021">{{Cite journal |last1=Zeng |first1=Jing |last2=Schäfer |first2=Mike S. |date=October 21, 2021 |title=Conceptualizing "Dark Platforms". Covid-19-Related Conspiracy Theories on 8kun and Gab |journal=[[Digital Journalism (journal)|Digital Journalism]] |volume=9 |issue=9 |pages=1321–1343 |doi=10.1080/21670811.2021.1938165 |s2cid=236279788 |issn=2167-0811 |via=[[Taylor & Francis Online]] |doi-access=free}}</ref>
In response to user growth on Gab during the 2020 presidential election in November, Torba claimed in an email to Gab users on November 11 that "Gab isn't growing because of 'celebrity' endorsements, sponsorships, or big paid advertising budgets, but rather from the most powerful form of advertising on the planet: [[Word-of-mouth marketing|word of mouth]]".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gilbert |first=David |date=November 12, 2020 |title=Conservative Social Media Sites Are Creating a Giant Right-Wing Echo Chamber |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7a8mz/parler-gab-mewe-and-rumble-are-creating-a-massive-right-wing-echo-chamber |access-date=January 23, 2021 |website=Vice News |language=en |archive-date=January 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116004207/https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7a8mz/parler-gab-mewe-and-rumble-are-creating-a-massive-right-wing-echo-chamber |url-status=live }}</ref>
As of August 2021, Gab accepts donations.<ref name="Silverman 2021" /> As of October 2021, Gab accepts donations in Bitcoin.<ref name="Zeng 2021" />
Line 340 ⟶ 343:
As of 2021, purchasing the GabPro subscription gave users "access to additional features such as the ability to apply for verification, schedule posts, get their own Gab TV channel and set posts to automatically delete after a specified period of time."<ref name="Jasser 2021" />
A report from June 2022 by Stanford Internet Observatory found that the deplatforming of users on social media sites following January 6, 2021 led to a surge of income which helped keep Gab afloat.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-10-07 |title=Deplatforming alt-right social media users boosted fringe platform, report finds |url=https://stanforddaily.com/2022/10/06/deplatforming-alt-right-social-media-users-helped-boost-a-fringe-social-platform-report-finds/ |access-date=2022-10-11 |website=The Stanford Daily |language=en-US |archive-date=October 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221011034443/https://stanforddaily.com/2022/10/06/deplatforming-alt-right-social-media-users-helped-boost-a-fringe-social-platform-report-finds/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Design==
In 2016, Gab's color theme was a minimalist combination of black text on white panels with pink [[hashtag]]s and usernames. Pro users had a contrasted top bar in dark blue. The interface displayed messages in a Twitter-like vertical scroll timeline with an option to upvote or downvote each post. The site also aggregated popular posts and trending topic hashtags.<ref name="Shaw 2016"/><ref name="Ellis 2016">{{Cite magazine |last=Ellis |first=Emma Grey |date=September 14, 2016 |title=Gab, the Alt-Right's Very Own Twitter, Is The Ultimate Filter Bubble |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |url=https://www.wired.com/2016/09/gab-alt-rights-twitter-ultimate-filter-bubble/ |url-status=live |access-date=December 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161204104624/https://www.wired.com/2016/09/gab-alt-rights-twitter-ultimate-filter-bubble/ |archive-date=December 4, 2016}}</ref> As of 2017, users could sort comments and posts in a subject by time or score. Default biographies for new users displayed a randomly chosen quotation about the importance of free speech.<ref name="Ehrenkranz 2017">{{cite web |url=https://mic.com/articles/171268/gab-a-haven-for-white-nationalists-is-now-trying-to-reach-young-diverse-progressives |title=Gab, a haven for White Nationalists, is now trying to reach young, diverse progressives |last=Ehrenkranz |first=Melanie |date=March 17, 2017 |website=[[Mic (media company)|Mic]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904131103/https://mic.com/articles/171268/gab-a-haven-for-white-nationalists-is-now-trying-to-reach-young-diverse-progressives |archive-date=September 4, 2017 |url-status=live |access-date=April 3, 2018}}</ref> Users also had the option to "mute" other users and terms.<ref name="Selyukh 2017">{{cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2017/05/21/529005840/feeling-sidelined-by-mainstream-social-media-far-right-users-jump-to-gab |title=Feeling Sidelined By Mainstream Social Media, Far-Right Users Jump To Gab |last=Selyukh |first=Alina |date=May 21, 2017 |work=[[All Things Considered]] |publisher=[[NPR]] |access-date=November 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181121120145/https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2017/05/21/529005840/feeling-sidelined-by-mainstream-social-media-far-right-users-jump-to-gab |archive-date=November 21, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> {{As of|2020|July}}, Gab's user interface was similar to that of Twitter, having a dashboard in the middle of the page with trending content on the left and menus on the right.<ref name="Conklin 2020" /> As of 2021, posts on Gab are limited to 5,000 characters.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gab Social Post Composer Features |url=https://help.gab.com/article/basics-post-composer-options |access-date=May 5, 2021 |website=Gab |language=en |archive-date=May 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508203857/https://help.gab.com/article/basics-post-composer-options |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Lima |first1=Lucas |last2=Reis |first2=Julio C.S. |last3=Melo |first3=Philipe |last4=Murai |first4=Fabricio |last5=Araujo |first5=Leandro |last6=Vikatos |first6=Pantelis |last7=Benevenuto |first7=Fabricio |title=2018 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Advances in Social Networks Analysis and Mining (ASONAM) |chapter=Inside the Right-Leaning Echo Chambers: Characterizing Gab, an Unmoderated Social System |date=August 2018 |chapter-url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8508809 |publisher=[[Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers]] |pages=515–522 |doi=10.1109/ASONAM.2018.8508809 |arxiv=1807.03688 |isbn=978-1-5386-6051-5 |s2cid=49669081 |access-date=August 28, 2022 |archive-date=May 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220505032047/https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8508809 |url-status=live }}</ref>
In early 2017, the option to downvote posts was temporarily removed from Gab, with the company's then-COO Sanduja explaining that they were removed due to them being used to troll and to harass women, and also stated that: "there were a lot of [[social justice warrior]]s and members of the [[Far-left politics|far left]] coming into our site essentially trying to start a brouhaha".<ref name="Ehrenkranz 2017" /> In July 2017, Gab implemented a system where people who downvoted others (through spamming) would have their accounts downvoted as well and their ability to leave downvotes would be revoked.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Andrew Torba on Gab |url=https://gab.ai/a/posts/9704352 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818010506/https://gab.ai/a/posts/9704352 |archive-date=August 18, 2017 |access-date=July 12, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Gab HQ on Gab |url=https://gab.ai/gab/posts/9584661 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818010419/https://gab.ai/gab/posts/9584661 |archive-date=August 18, 2017 |access-date=July 12, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ekrem Büyükkaya on Gab |url=https://gab.ai/e/posts/9585990 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818005410/https://gab.ai/e/posts/9585990 |archive-date=August 18, 2017 |access-date=July 12, 2017}}</ref> As of 2019, Gab uses a scoring system, which allows users with more than 250 points to downvote posts, but users must "spend points" in order to do so.<ref name="Webster 2019">{{Cite web |last=Webster |first=Lexi |date=April 3, 2019 |title=Dissenter and Gab: the controversial platforms with implications for 'free speech' |url=http://theconversation.com/dissenter-and-gab-the-controversial-platforms-with-implications-for-free-speech-113392 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112022958/https://theconversation.com/dissenter-and-gab-the-controversial-platforms-with-implications-for-free-speech-113392 |archive-date=November 12, 2020 |access-date=January 19, 2021 |website=[[The Conversation (website)|The Conversation]] |language=en}}</ref>
Line 378 ⟶ 381:
* {{official website|https://gab.com/}}
* [https://code.gab.com/gab/social/gab-social Official source code repository]
{{Alt-right footer}}
| |||