Gab (social network)

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Gab, Inc.
Type of site
Social networking service
Available inEnglish
Headquarters
United States[1]
Founder(s)Andrew Torba
Ekrem Büyükkaya
IndustryInternet
URLgab.com
RegistrationRequired
Users465,000[2]
Current statusInactive
Written inPHP, Laravel[citation needed]

Gab was an English-language social network service.[5] It allowed its users to read and write multimedia messages of up to 300 characters, called "gabs". The website was created by Andrew Torba in 2016 to counter what he perceived as "left-leaning Big Social monopoly" in other social media platforms.[6] The site purported itself as an "alternative of Twitter" and "champions free speech".[7] Its target market was "conservative, libertarian, nationalists and populist internet users around the world."[8]

Gab attracted migration of users banned from other social networks, including members of the far right.[3] A majority of Gab's users were white, a majority were male, and a majority were conservative.[9] Gab reported 465,000 users in April 2018.[2] The site's most followed users included prominent far-right individuals such as Richard B. Spencer, Mike Cernovich, and Alex Jones.[9][10]

Gab has been described as "extremist friendly"[11] or a "safe haven"[12] for neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and alt-right.[11] Gab's self-promotion of "free speech" has been criticised in research articles as "merely a shield behind which its alt-right users hide",[10] and "an echo chamber for right-leaning content dissemination".[9] The site gained extensive public scrutiny since the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, as the attack's perpetrator maintained a verified account on Gab.[11] On October 29, 2018, after a backlash from hosting providers, Gab took themselves offline, pending relocation to a new hosting site.[13]

History

Gab was created in August 2016, billing itself as an alternative to the social networking site Twitter.[6][3] Founder and CEO Andrew Torba cited "the entirely left-leaning Big Social monopoly"[6] as part of the inspiration for Gab, which he created "after reading reports that Facebook employees suppress conservative articles".[14] Torba said in November that the site's user base had expanded significantly following censorship controversies involving major social media companies,[15] including the permanent suspensions from Twitter of several prominent alt-right accounts.[16]

In December 2016, Gab.ai's submission of its app to the iOS App Store was declined by Apple. Apple cited pornographic content as the reason. At the same time, Twitter also cut off access to its API without specifying a reason.[17][18] A resubmitted version of the app which blocked pornography by default was also rejected for violating Apple's rules on hate speech.[19]

After nine months of closed beta testing the site became available to anyone registering with an email.[20]

On July 22, 2017, the site added Pro accounts and on August 1, 2017, Gab TV was opened to Pro members.[21] It was described[who?] as a service for creating Periscope-like video streaming channels. According to Andrew Torba, the site was hit with a DDoS attack soon afterwards.[22]

On August 17, 2017, Google removed Gab's app from the Google Play Store for violating its policy against hate speech.[18] Google stated that the app did not "demonstrate a sufficient level of moderation, including for content that encourages violence and advocates hate against groups of people."[23] In September 2017, Gab filed an antitrust suit against Google for their removal of the Gab app from the Google Play Store[24] but dropped the suit on October 22, 2017.[25]

In September 2017, Gab faced pressure from its domain registrar to take down a post by The Daily Stormer founder Andrew Anglin.[26] Danny O'Brien of the Electronic Frontier Foundation commented that this pressure was part of an increase in politically motivated domain name seizures.[7]

On August 9, 2018, Torba announced that Microsoft Azure, Gab's host, threatened to suspend the site for "weeks/months" if they failed to remove two antisemitic posts made by Patrick Little, a political candidate who had been ejected from the Republican Party for his antisemitism.[27][28][29] According to The Verge, the posts "express intense anti-Semitism and meet any reasonable definition of hate speech."[29] Little deleted the posts while saying the complaint was a violation of his rights as an American.[29] On that same day, Alex Jones interviewed Torba on The Alex Jones Show during his coverage of his own permanent ban from YouTube.[30]

Gab has used the address of a WeWork coworking space in Philadelphia in SEC filings. A WeWork spokesperson said that Torba had become a member under his own name, not Gab's, and that his time there had been brief. In October, 2018, a Gab spokesperson told The Philadelphia Inquirer that Gab was at that point no longer based in Philadelphia.[31]

Users

The site has been described as a favorite of alt-right users who have been banned or suspended from other services,[16][32] including former Breitbart writer Milo Yiannopoulos,[33] formerly anonymous Twitter user "Ricky Vaughn",[14][16] and white supremacists such as Richard B. Spencer,[3][14] Tila Tequila,[15] Vox Day,[34] and Britain First.[35] Andrew Torba, the CEO of Gab.ai, was himself removed from the Y Combinator alumni network because of harassment concerns, starting when he used "build the wall" to insult a Latino CEO.[36][37] Until 2016, Torba was registered as a Democrat, although he voted for Donald Trump and other Republicans.[12]

In early 2018, a cross-university group released a study on posts made to the site. According to that study, the site hosted a high volume of racism and hate speech,[38] and primarily "attracts alt-right users, conspiracy theorists, and other trolls".[39] 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 4chan's politically incorrect board.[10] The authors of the study concluded 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.[38][10]

Another study in late 2018 confirmed that Gab is crowded by extremist users. Among its users, a majority are "conservative, male, and Caucasian". The study showed a great variety in domains of shared urls on Gab. Most of these domains are not popular in other social media or other parts of the Internet. A portion of these domains are known for spreading politics-related news. This has led to the conclusion that Gab "has become an echo chamber for right-leaning content dissemination".[9]

Notable former users include white nationalist political candidate Paul Nehlen, who was removed from the site for doxing Ricky Vaughn,[40] and blackhat hacker Andrew Auernheimer (known as weev) who was banned for calling for genocide against Jews and endorsing terrorist Timothy McVeigh.[7] Auernheimer's activity prompted threats from Gab's then webhost Asia Registry to remove the comments or they would refuse to host the site. Gab has since found another host.[7]

2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting

The main suspect in the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting maintained an active, verified Gab account where he displayed the neo-Nazi code-phrase 1488. Just prior to the shooting, he posted to the site about a conspiracy theory that refugees being assisted by a Jewish organization were "invaders", and that he was "going in". In the aftermath of the shooting, Gab removed his profile and provided the information to the FBI. On October 27, 2018 soon after the shooting, PayPal terminated their relationship with Gab[41] based on its review of accounts that may engage in the "perpetuation of hate, violence or discriminatory intolerance".[42] Later on the same day, Gab announced on Twitter that Joyent, Gab's hosting provider, would terminate their service on Monday. The tweet said that the site expected to be down for weeks.[43][44][45][46] Since the shooting, Gab has received substantial media attention, having been relatively unknown by the general public prior to the attack.[47] Despite backlash, the CEO of Gab, Andrew Torba, has maintained that he will do everything in his power to keep the service running, even as investors cut ties.[48]

Reception

Gab has been described as "Twitter for racists" by Salon, a "hate-filled echo chamber of racism and conspiracy theories" by The Guardian, and "safe haven for banned Twitter trolls, Gamergaters, Pizzagaters and high-profile white nationalists" by Mic.[12][49][50] An editorial in Wired criticized Gab for not explicitly prohibiting hate speech.[51] The only restrictions on expression on the site are on threats of violence, promotion of terrorism, child pornography, revenge porn and doxing.[52][1]

Torba has denied that Gab is "designed specifically for conservatives" and has stated that "we welcome everyone and always will".[15][3] However, in filings made with the SEC in 2016, Gab admitted that its target market was "conservative, libertarian, nationalists and populist internet users around the world."[8] He has further said that "We want everyone to feel safe on Gab, but we're not going to police what is hate speech and what isn't".[51] In response to criticism, in March 2017, Gab announced its plans to make the site more diverse by removing the downvote button. According to Torba, this feature was also being abused by "social justice warriors".[12]

Revenue

Gab does not use advertising. The site began offering a premium subscription service for Gab named "Gab Pro" in April 2017. The subscription allows users to have private chats for up to 25 people, which was later added for all users with two users maximum and Gab Pro with 50 maximum. Messages are deleted after 24 hours. Gab Pro subscribers can also view a topic breakdown for other users, make lists of users to sort their home feed, livestream on GabTV (Gab's video-sharing service), and more easily get their profile verified. Subscribers also get a "PRO" badge next to their posts. In July 2017 Gab also started an investment project which met its goal of $1.07 million on August 19, 2017.[53][26]

On August 15, 2017, Torba announced plans for its own cryptocurrency, expecting Gab to be subject to "blacklisting" by third-party payment processors.[54]

Design

File:Gab Logo.svg
The "Gabby" logo, used from 2016 to 2018.

Gab's color theme is a minimalist combination of black text on white panels with pink hashtags and usernames. Pro users have a contrasted top bar in dark blue closer to that of Facebook. The interface "behaves like a Twitter-Reddit hybrid",[16] displaying messages in a Twitter-like vertically-scrolling timeline format with a Reddit-like option to upvote or downvote each post. The site also aggregates popular posts and trending topic hashtags.[15][16][51] Users can sort comments and posts in a subject by time or score. Default biographies for new users display a randomly chosen quotation about the importance of free speech.[12]

When writing a gab, Gabbers without a Pro subscription can post up to 300 characters of plain text, while those with a Pro account can write up to 3,000 characters per gab.[15] The first 300 characters of a gab appear in the timeline, with an option to read the rest of a gab if it is longer.[55] Additional functionality is similar to Twitter, using # to create hashtags and @ to reference other users by username. Gabs can embed some multimedia, limited to emoji, photo upload, and Giphy animated GIFs. In addition, hyperlinks can be embedded, with some content such as YouTube videos displaying a thumbnail preview. Each Gab account can optionally be linked to a Twitter account for cross-posting, which can be enabled or disabled before a gab is published. When enabled, the gab is tweeted up to around the first 100 characters, along with a link to the gab.

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 revoked.[56][57][58][59] Downvotes were removed entirely. Gab's then-COO Utsav Sanduja explained that downvotes were being used to drive female users off the site.[12] Downvoting was later reinstated; as of December 2017 both upvotes and downvotes are possible, but the totals are tracked and displayed separately rather than being combined into a single score.

A frog named "Gabby"[14] was the logo of Gab as of 2016. Torba has said that the frog logo was inspired by Bible verses (Exodus 8:1-8:12 and Psalms 78:45) and various other traditional symbolic meanings. The logo has been compared to Pepe the Frog, a cartoon character used as a meme by the alt-right.[14][49] As of September 2018, the frog logo was no longer used.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Franke-Ruta, Garance (September 22, 2017). "Gab, the social network of the 'Alt-Right' fights to stay online". Yahoo News. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  2. ^ a b Torba, Andrew (May 2, 2018). "April Community Update". Gab. Retrieved May 2, 2018. April Community Update: 465,000 total Gabbers {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)[dead link]
  3. ^ a b c d e Wilson, Jason (November 17, 2016). "Gab: alt-right's social media alternative attracts users banned from Twitter". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
  4. ^ "gab.ai Traffic Statistics". Alexa Internet. July 28, 2018. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  5. ^ "Gab, Far-Right Web Platform Favored by Pittsburgh Shooter, Attacks Critics and Appeals to Donald Trump for Help". Newsweek. October 28, 2018. Retrieved October 28, 2018.
  6. ^ a b c "This New Social Network Promises Almost-Total Free Speech To Its Users". BuzzFeed. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
  7. ^ a b c d Edison Hayden, Michael (September 22, 2017). "Nazis on Gab social network show there is no such thing as a free speech internet". Newsweek. Retrieved May 6, 2018.
  8. ^ a b Timberg, Craig; Harwell, Drew; Elizabeth, Dwoskin; Brown, Emma (October 31, 2018). "From Silicon Valley elite to social media hate: The radicalization that led to Gab". The Washington Post.
  9. ^ a b c d Lima, Lucas; Reis, Julio C. S.; Melo, Philipe; Murai, Fabricio; Araújo, Leandro; Vikatos, Pantelis; Benevenuto, Fabrício (July 10, 2018). "Inside the Right-Leaning Echo Chambers: Characterizing Gab, an Unmoderated Social System". arXiv:1807.03688 [cs.SI]. We also show that the majority of Gab users are conservative, male, and Caucasian.
  10. ^ a b c d Zannettou, Savvas; Bradlyn, Barry; De Cristofaro, Emiliano; Kwak, Haewoon; Sirivianos, Michael; Stringhini, Gianluca; Blackburn, Jeremy (March 13, 2018). "What is Gab". What is Gab? A Bastion of Free Speech or an Alt-Right Echo Chamber?. pp. 1007–1014. arXiv:1802.05287. doi:10.1145/3184558.3191531. ISBN 9781450356404.
  11. ^ a b c Roose, Kevin (October 28, 2018). "On Gab, an Extremist-Friendly Site, Pittsburgh Shooting Suspect Aired His Hatred in Full". The New York Times. New York City. Retrieved October 28, 2018.
  12. ^ a b c d e f Ehrenkranz, Melanie (March 17, 2017). "Gab, a haven for White Nationalists, is now trying to reach young, diverse progressives". Mic. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  13. ^ "Gab, the social network used by accused Pittsburgh synagogue shooter, goes offline". USA TODAY. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
  14. ^ a b c d e Hess, Amanda (November 30, 2016). "The Far Right Has a New Digital Safe Space". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
  15. ^ a b c d e Shaw, Adam (November 28, 2016). "As Twitter cracks down on alt-right, aggrieved members flee to 'Gab'". Fox News. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
  16. ^ a b c d e Ohlheiser, Abby (November 29, 2016). "Banned from Twitter? This site promises you can say whatever you want". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
  17. ^ Rodriguez, Salvador (December 15, 2016). "Gab, the Alt-Right's Favorite Social Network, Gets Rejections From Apple, Twitter". Inc.com. Retrieved September 7, 2017.
  18. ^ a b Rob Price (August 18, 2017). "Google's app store has banned Gab — a social network popular with the far-right — for 'hate speech'". Business Insider UK. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  19. ^ Lee, Timothy B. (August 18, 2017). "Google explains why it banned the app for Gab, a right-wing Twitter rival". Ars Technica. Retrieved September 7, 2017.
  20. ^ "New social site Gab is getting popular with the 'alt-right'". Engadget. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
  21. ^ Jon Del Arroz (June 14, 2017). "How to keep your online browsing unfiltered by political propaganda". The Federalist. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  22. ^ "Announcement from Andrew Torba's Gab account". Gab.
  23. ^ Coldewey, Devin (August 17, 2017). "Alt-social network Gab booted from Google Play Store for hate speech". Techcrunch. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  24. ^ "Google faces lawsuit over removing Gab from Play Store". BBC News. September 18, 2017. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
  25. ^ "Gab Drops Its Lawsuit Against Google; Considers Trying Its Hand At Lobbying". Techdirt. Retrieved November 3, 2017.
  26. ^ a b Robertson, Adi (September 6, 2017). "Far-right friendly social network Gab is facing censorship controversy". Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  27. ^ "Gab user deletes anti-Semitic content after Microsoft Azure threatened to shut down the site". GeekWire. August 9, 2018. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
  28. ^ "Microsoft warns Gab it'll pull service over anti-Semitic posts". CNET. August 10, 2018. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
  29. ^ a b c Brandom, Russell (August 9, 2018). "Microsoft threatened to drop hosting for Gab over hate speech posts". The Verge. Retrieved August 13, 2018.
  30. ^ "Right-wing platforms provide refuge to digital outcasts — and Alex Jones". NBC News. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
  31. ^ Whelan, Aubrey (October 28, 2018). "What is Gab, the social media network frequented by the Pittsburgh shooter?". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
  32. ^ Andrews, Travis (November 16, 2016). "'A great purge?': Twitter suspends Richard Spencer, other prominent alt-right accounts". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved November 20, 2017.
  33. ^ Heil, Emily (November 22, 2016). "Tila Tequila's Twitter account suspended after appearance at white nationalist convention". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
  34. ^ Robertson, Adi (October 9, 2017). "Two months ago, the Internet tried to banish Nazis. No one knows if it worked". The Verge. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  35. ^ Marsh, Susan (December 20, 2017). "Britain First signs up to fringe social media site after Twitter ban". The Guardian.
  36. ^ Ha, Anthony. "Pro-Trump CEO gets booted from Y Combinator over harassment concerns | TechCrunch". Retrieved June 5, 2017.
  37. ^ "Trump-Supporting CEO Kicked Out Of Y Combinator Startup Incubator". BuzzFeed. Retrieved June 5, 2017.
  38. ^ a b Bennett, Tom (April 5, 2018). "Gab Is the Alt-Right Social Network Racists Are Moving to". Vice. Retrieved October 28, 2018.
  39. ^ Collins, Ben (October 27, 2018). "Synagogue shooting suspect threatened Jewish groups, pushed conspiracies". NBC News. Retrieved October 28, 2018.
  40. ^ Pink, Aiden (April 5, 2018). "Even the Alt-Right Is Sick of Paul Nehlen". The Forward. Retrieved May 6, 2018.
  41. ^ "Gab.com on twitter".
  42. ^ Liptak, Andrew (October 27, 2018). "Paypal bans Gab following Pittsburgh shooting". The Verge. Retrieved October 27, 2018.
  43. ^ @getongab (October 28, 2018). "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" (Tweet). Archived from the original on October 28, 2018 – via Twitter.
  44. ^ Graham, Chris (October 28, 2018). "What is Gab? Social media site used by Pittsburgh synagogue shooting suspect 'being forced offline'". The Telegraph. Retrieved October 28, 2018.
  45. ^ "Gab's Hosting Provider Moves to Shut Down the Alt-Right Social Network". The Daily Beast. October 28, 2018. Retrieved October 28, 2018.
  46. ^ Rosenberg, Adam. "Gab, a racist-friendly alt-Twitter, has been banned by PayPal and others". Mashable. Retrieved October 28, 2018.
  47. ^ "What is Gab, the fringe social network used by Pittsburgh shooting suspect?". USA TODAY. Retrieved October 28, 2018.
  48. ^ "Gab is still fundraising, even after companies sever ties". The Daily Dot. October 28, 2018. Retrieved October 28, 2018.
  49. ^ a b Benson, Thor. "Inside the "Twitter for racists": Gab — the site where Milo Yiannopoulos goes to troll now". Salon. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
  50. ^ "Inside the hate-filled echo chamber of racism and conspiracy theories". The Guardian. December 17, 2016. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  51. ^ a b c Ellis, Emma Grey. "Gab, the Alt-Right's Very Own Twitter, Is The Ultimate Filter Bubble". WIRED. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
  52. ^ "Guidelines. | Gab". gab.ai. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
  53. ^ "Gab". StartEngine. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
  54. ^ "Happy Birthday, Gab: Announcing Our Plans For An ICO 🐸🎂". medium.com. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  55. ^ "Gab". gab.ai. January 16, 2018. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
  56. ^ "Andrew Torba on Gab". Retrieved July 12, 2017.
  57. ^ "Andrew Torba on Gab". Retrieved July 12, 2017.
  58. ^ "Gab HQ on Gab". Retrieved July 12, 2017.
  59. ^ "Ekrem Büyükkaya on Gab". Retrieved July 12, 2017.

External links

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