Gab, The Free Speech Social Media Platform Used By The Pittsburgh Shooter, Is Offline
Update, November 6: Gab is now back online, and Wired has the story of how it got back up.
Previously: The future of a right-wing social media platform is in question after revelations that a man used it to post antisemitic threats before killing 11 people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh on Saturday. Gab, the "free speech" social media site favored by Pittsburgh shooter Robert Bowers, is offline after web hosting services and payment processing companies cancelled their agreements with Gab in the wake of the shooting. Here's what we know.
Gab Was Explicitly Founded As A Haven For Free Speech And An Antidote Against Political Correctness
Gab was founded in August 2016 by a conservative programmer named Andrew Torba. In a Medium post introducing Gab, Torba wrote, "At Gab, we believe that free speech and free thought are under attack. Political correctness has risen up at the expense of freedom of speech and has become a cancer on discourse and culture." Here's how Slate's April Glaser described the site in August 2017:
Branded with the face of Pepe, the anthropomorphic frog that has become the emblematic meme of the alt-right, Gab is a digital playpen for Nazis, white supremacists, men's rights activists, anti-PC crusaders, Gamergaters, anti-feminists, free speech absolutists, and anyone who loves a solidly offensive joke. Notifications are sounded with the croak of a frog. If an anti-Semitic or racist or sexist remark isn't the first post you come across, it's likely the second, third, or fourth. It's a "safe space" for the kinds of people the rest of us want to feel safe from. The users feel their perspectives have few homes elsewhere on an internet shaped by the left-tilting values of Silicon Valley, the rejection of which has propelled Gab's rise.
[Slate]
Even Before The Shooting, Gab Had Been Banned Or Warned By Some Prominent Tech Companies
In August 2017, Google removed Gab's mobile app from the Google Play Store for hate speech stemming from insufficient moderation.
Google explained the removal in an e-mail to Ars. "In order to be on the Play Store, social networking apps need to demonstrate a sufficient level of moderation, including for content that encourages violence and advocates hate against groups of people," the statement read. "This is a long-standing rule and clearly stated in our developer policies."
In August 2018, Microsoft threatened to terminate cloud services for Gab after receiving a third-party complaint about antisemitic posts on the platform by a Senate candidate named Patrick Little.
Microsoft has threatened to cease hosting services for the alt-right social network Gab over two anti-Semitic posts, according to an email published by Gab founder Andrew Torba. The email claims the posts violate Microsoft policy and requests that Gab "promptly take appropriate action to resolve the complaint…within two business days" or hosting service will be suspended. If Gab is forced off Azure, Torba says service "will go down for weeks/months" as the company secures a new provider.
In response, Little removed the posts, and Microsoft did not take Gab offline.
The Pittsburgh Shooter Made Many Antisemitic Comments, Including Right Before The Rampage, On Gab
Robert Bowers, the man who killed 11 people worshipping at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh on Saturday, posted his intentions on Gab moments before the rampage. "I can't sit by and watch my people get slaughtered," he wrote. "Screw your optics, I'm going in." It was the culmination of months of antisemitic postings on Gab.
Gab's reputation for accommodating extremism may have been what drew Mr. Bowers to the site. In January, he signed up for an account, and began sharing anti-Jewish images, conspiracy theories about Jews controlling the world, and criticism of President Trump — whom, he implied, was too accommodating of Jewish influence. He appeared to have other social media accounts, but Gab was where he aired his hatred in full. His bio on the site read, "Jews are the children of Satan," and a photo on his profile included the number 1488, a reference to Nazism that is popular among white supremacists.
After Bowers' Connection To Gab Was Reported, Many Companies Swiftly Banned Gab
On Sunday, Gab announced on Twitter that it had been banned by cloud hosting company Joyent, payment processors Stripe and PayPal, online publisher Medium and domain provider GoDaddy in the wake of the attack.
After Gab went offline due to Joyent's termination of services, Torba posted a defiant message to Gab.com.
Torba Insists Gab Is Helping Law Enforcement In The Pittsburgh Investigation
In an interview with the New York Times' Kevin Roose, Torba seemed to suggest that Gab played a positive role in the Pittsburgh shooting because it provided a record of Bowers' hateful statements.
In an email interview on Saturday, Mr. Torba, Gab's chief executive, said that he had not reviewed all of Mr. Bowers's posts, but that the company had turned over information about his account to law enforcement agencies and was cooperating with the investigation.
"Because he was on Gab, law enforcement now have definitive evidence for a motive," Mr. Torba wrote. "They would not have had this evidence without Gab. We are proud to work with and support law enforcement in order to bring justice to this alleged terrorist."
We'll update this post if and when Gab finds a new hosting provider and goes back online.
