Title: Gab Site Taken Down, Andrew Torba Loves The Controversy
Headings: Is This The End For Controversial Social Media Platform Gab?
Is This The End For Controversial Social Media Platform Gab?
Content: We want everyone to feel safe on Gab, but we’re not going to police what is hate speech and what isn’t." The platform has denied catering to these groups, instead claiming that its only interest is protecting free speech. In the spectrum of answers tech companies are giving to the increasingly important question, "What responsibility do social media platforms have to reprimand and rebuke hate speech?" Gab has taken an almost entirely hands-off approach. Advertisement
Still, it appears that Torba has relished in, and profited from, other platforms' attempts to deter hate speech in the past. Following a sweeping series of alt-right Twitter account suspensions in November 2016, Torba boasted about the increase in Gab users. " In the last eight days alone, we’ve added 60,000 new accounts. And that [growth] does coincide with a lot of the bans that we’re seeing." In a series of screenshots detailing the back and forth exchange between Torba and Washington Post journalist Drew Harwell, Torba describes himself and his company as a scapegoat in the discourse surrounding the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. Gab's Twitter feed is filled with tweets characterizing the platform and its CEO as a Silicon Valley martyr suffering for defending free speech whatever the cost.