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The original story, is apparently not available at this link, but the footer, also written by Andrew Torba, owner of Gab.ai , is available: https://medium.com/

The original story, is apparently not available at this link, but the footer, also written by Andrew Torba, owner of Gab.ai , is available: https://medium.com/@Torbahax/this-is-a-joke-and-it-is-fake-news-a1fa3fc74228 https://medium.com/@Torbahax/this-is-a-joke-and-it-is-fake-n... partial quote: " Gab is absolutely not a “white nationalist social media platform.” We are a free speech social media platform. We welcome everyone and have since the day we launched. My co-founder Ekrem is a Muslim Kurd in Turkey. Our Chief Communications Officer Utsav is an Indian and a practicing Hindu. Our “frog logo” that the media wants so desperately to tie to “pepe,” was inspired by Exodus 8:2–7 and was designed by our Creative Director Brandon, who is Jewish."

tptacek 8y ago
That's an interesting thing for him to say, because Gab is absolutely and obviously a white nationalist social media platform. Want another example? Arguing with Ken White (Popehat) on Twitter, the official Gab account RT'd a white nationalist mocking Ken for having adopted Asian children. https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/1026849669425520640 https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/1026849669425520640
- colllectorof 8y ago
  Are there known instances of Gab removing left-leaning content, or content speaking against white nationalists? That is the only relevant metric here. Tweets from their official account have nothing to do with it.
  - pvg 8y ago
    A metric for what? It's obviously not a sensible or relevant metric for 'is Gab a white nationalist platform'.
- microcolonel 8y ago
  Granted it was in response to Ken making fun of "incels". Presumably the point is that an infertile person who is not particularly attractive has little to stand on when mocking people with poor romantic success... or something to that effect. It's not my Tweet (and I have no bone to pick with Ken White), but wouldn't take this as solid evidence that Gab (or the person operating the Gab Twitter profile) agrees in general with white nationalists (and clearly, the deeds of Gab as a company do not indicate that they do either). Do you have a more straightforward example?
  - pcwalton 8y ago
    Cowardly obscurantism is the standard tactic of white supremacists and others with loathsome views. They know that if they come right out and say what they believe, they will get nowhere. So they engage in slight of hand and dog whistles in order to recruit the gullible. Andrew Torba's entire platform is built on this obscurantism. It would be an insult to my intelligence to claim that the target of this tweet is anyone other than the Jews, for example: https://twitter.com/thetomzone/status/1027695084236668928 https://twitter.com/thetomzone/status/1027695084236668928
    - microcolonel 8y ago
      Yikes, hadn't seen that one. That really is too bad, I hope this attitude doesn't permeate the company, because the platform is gaining steam.
      - tptacek 8y ago
        No, it isn't. It's floundering, because it is a site that caters to white supremacists, with an aspirational sideline in catering to normal people. Among people who have any name recognition for Gab whatsoever, simply having a Gab account with your name on it is a pretty icky social signal to be sending. In practice, what I see as I regularly check up and screenshot it is a whole lot of bot content punctuated by an occasional neo-Nazi post. I don't even think the white supremacists are all that invested in it. Maybe the ICO will work out for them.
        microcolonel 8y ago
        > In practice, what I see as I regularly check up and screenshot it is a whole lot of bot content punctuated by an occasional neo-Nazi post. I don't even think the white supremacists are all that invested in it. For what it's worth, I think that's just the effect of the default feed. If you actually follow anyone it completely changes. If what you're saying about the bots is true, maybe I don't see them so much as a result of a sort of WoT effect by follows. I certainly find the default feeds grody, but after adding "jq" and a few others to my muted words list, it's worth looking at some of the feeds for the occasional hidden gem. I will say, the space is not rich and diverse like Twitter used to be (yet). I honestly really liked the Twitter crowd, but it seems like conversation on Twitter is dying; I shuttered my account a while back, and if Gab doesn't grow a broader base I don't really know what there will be to take its place. Minds doesn't look too bad, but it seems to suffer from a (milder, potentially thanks to the influx of desperate refugees of Facebook in Vietnam) form of the same disease: being populated largely by untouchables (some so vile they cost you job prospects by mere proximity). > simply having a Gab account with your name on it is a pretty icky social signal to be sending. Yeah, I have it on good authority that merely having a Gab profile has cost me a job offer, which is why I closed it a few months ago. Reopened it today because if I die tomorrow I'd like to go with my spine intact.
- patrickg_zill 8y ago
  I just created a Gab account to try to find hashtags or accounts that are not WN. There are some, but of course, Gab just passed 500K accounts (no idea how many are active: they are privately held and don't publish a breakdown unlike publicly-traded TWTR, which has 335 million monthly active users) so it's tough to find exactly which non-WN communities there might be... I am not sure if you are saying that Gab is "majority WN" or that it is "exclusively WN". There are certainly other users (of non-white ethnicities), groups and hashtags represented: Kenyans group https://gab.ai/jojiwanyoike https://gab.ai/jojiwanyoike Search for "Iyer" a typical Indian (Tamil) Brahmin last name: https://gab.ai/search/iyer https://gab.ai/search/iyer
  - pcwalton 8y ago
    > I just created a Gab account to try to find hashtags or accounts that are not WN. You did what Andrew Torba wanted you to do. He wants people to come for "free speech", to "give it a fair chance", and so forth, so that they can be exposed to, and grow to accept, neo-Nazi rhetoric. It's a scam. Don't fall for it.
    - patrickg_zill 8y ago
      There's already a bunch on Twitter, where I've had an account for a while. So it's too late for me, but save yourself...!
      - tptacek 8y ago
        Who is this argument trying to kid? Gab is a white supremacist message board. I just reloaded the site 3 times, and got alt-right memes on all 3 loads. The only reason anyone is having a hard time seeing this now is that Gab is dying, and half the posts are innocuous bot content they inject to make it look like the site has activity. Like I said across the thread: even the white supremacists are giving up on the place. Are you really maintaining a Gab account? Why? You could also wear a swastika armband on the same premise: "I'm demonstrating my right to wear what I want, without being coerced by society". Sure, man. But also you're a dude wearing a swastika armband. Reconsider.
- manfredo 8y ago
  I think it's important to distinguish between platforms that host content of a given topic, and platforms that are specifically set up for a certain topic. For example, Reddit has /r/motorcycles, but I wouldn't call it "a motorcycling discussion platform". I'd call advrider.com or bayarearidersforum.com motorcycle discussion platforms. They're websites specifically set up for motorcycling related discussion. A website that takes a strong stance on free speech like Gab probably has a significant overrepresentation of White Nationalists, by virtue of displacement - most other big platforms ban this content so they migrate to the few places that do allow it. In that sense I think it's fair to call Gab "a platform that tolerates white nationalist" but not "a white nationalist platform". Equating tolerance of an idea as endorsement for an idea is the root of a lot of problems we see today, in my opinion.
  - pcwalton 8y ago
    Andrew Torba is obviously a neo-Nazi, so can we put this argument to rest.
    - tptacek 8y ago
      This comment was flagged. It's not, like, the most substantive comment on the thread, but it's not un-substantive. Patrick isn't calling someone here a neo-Nazi, as an epithet. He's pointing out that Torba is one. I think he's probably right. If he's wrong, make an argument; don't abuse the flag button.
  - MajesticHobo2 8y ago
    Are you just going to ignore the fact that the official Twitter account for Gab actively promotes white supremacist talking points? It only takes about 30 seconds of scrolling through their feed to see this.
    - manfredo 8y ago
      I scrolled for not only 30 seconds or so but at least a minute. Nowhere do I find Gab actively promoting white supremacy. As far as promoting "white supremacist talking points" this is a pretty substantially different actually supporting white supremacy, and support for that allegation is still pretty vague. The closes things I found are: > “Hate speech” is free speech, as decided unanimously by the Supreme Court of the United States of America. Sure, white supremacists may be more keen to protect hate speech but this statement is factually correct. > Right-wing platforms provide refuge to digital outcasts — and Alex Jones Again, hosting a speaker is not the same as promoting or endorsing what is said. By this logic, Berkeley endorsed Milo Y. > At some point you have to ask yourself: just who is pushing for the censorship? Once you learn who, there is no going back. You can’t unsee what has been seen. You can’t unlearn what has been learned. Arguably echoes allegations that Jewist people control the media, but this is vague at best. Furthermore, the account states that it would not ban left-wing speakers that had written hateful message about whites: > The @verge defends the anti-white hate of @sarahjeong then turns around and maligns Gab as “alt right” for defending free speech for everyone (including Sarah!) I think official Gab twitter account is consistent Gab's claim to allow all legal speech, including hateful speech regardless of political leaning.
anigbrowl 8y ago
Exodus 8:2-7 alludes to an ultimatum threatening to inflict a plague of frogs on Egypt. Because when I want to demonstrate my love of freedom and inclusivity, the first thing I think of is calling down plagues on my enemies.

tptacek 8y ago

That's an interesting thing for him to say, because Gab is absolutely and obviously a white nationalist social media platform. Want another example? Arguing with Ken White (Popehat) on Twitter, the official Gab account RT'd a white nationalist mocking Ken for having adopted Asian children. https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/1026849669425520640 https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/1026849669425520640

colllectorof 8y ago
Are there known instances of Gab removing left-leaning content, or content speaking against white nationalists? That is the only relevant metric here. Tweets from their official account have nothing to do with it.
- pvg 8y ago
  A metric for what? It's obviously not a sensible or relevant metric for 'is Gab a white nationalist platform'.
microcolonel 8y ago
Granted it was in response to Ken making fun of "incels". Presumably the point is that an infertile person who is not particularly attractive has little to stand on when mocking people with poor romantic success... or something to that effect. It's not my Tweet (and I have no bone to pick with Ken White), but wouldn't take this as solid evidence that Gab (or the person operating the Gab Twitter profile) agrees in general with white nationalists (and clearly, the deeds of Gab as a company do not indicate that they do either). Do you have a more straightforward example?
- pcwalton 8y ago
  Cowardly obscurantism is the standard tactic of white supremacists and others with loathsome views. They know that if they come right out and say what they believe, they will get nowhere. So they engage in slight of hand and dog whistles in order to recruit the gullible. Andrew Torba's entire platform is built on this obscurantism. It would be an insult to my intelligence to claim that the target of this tweet is anyone other than the Jews, for example: https://twitter.com/thetomzone/status/1027695084236668928 https://twitter.com/thetomzone/status/1027695084236668928
  - microcolonel 8y ago
    Yikes, hadn't seen that one. That really is too bad, I hope this attitude doesn't permeate the company, because the platform is gaining steam.
    - tptacek 8y ago
      No, it isn't. It's floundering, because it is a site that caters to white supremacists, with an aspirational sideline in catering to normal people. Among people who have any name recognition for Gab whatsoever, simply having a Gab account with your name on it is a pretty icky social signal to be sending. In practice, what I see as I regularly check up and screenshot it is a whole lot of bot content punctuated by an occasional neo-Nazi post. I don't even think the white supremacists are all that invested in it. Maybe the ICO will work out for them.
      - microcolonel 8y ago
        > In practice, what I see as I regularly check up and screenshot it is a whole lot of bot content punctuated by an occasional neo-Nazi post. I don't even think the white supremacists are all that invested in it. For what it's worth, I think that's just the effect of the default feed. If you actually follow anyone it completely changes. If what you're saying about the bots is true, maybe I don't see them so much as a result of a sort of WoT effect by follows. I certainly find the default feeds grody, but after adding "jq" and a few others to my muted words list, it's worth looking at some of the feeds for the occasional hidden gem. I will say, the space is not rich and diverse like Twitter used to be (yet). I honestly really liked the Twitter crowd, but it seems like conversation on Twitter is dying; I shuttered my account a while back, and if Gab doesn't grow a broader base I don't really know what there will be to take its place. Minds doesn't look too bad, but it seems to suffer from a (milder, potentially thanks to the influx of desperate refugees of Facebook in Vietnam) form of the same disease: being populated largely by untouchables (some so vile they cost you job prospects by mere proximity). > simply having a Gab account with your name on it is a pretty icky social signal to be sending. Yeah, I have it on good authority that merely having a Gab profile has cost me a job offer, which is why I closed it a few months ago. Reopened it today because if I die tomorrow I'd like to go with my spine intact.
patrickg_zill 8y ago
I just created a Gab account to try to find hashtags or accounts that are not WN. There are some, but of course, Gab just passed 500K accounts (no idea how many are active: they are privately held and don't publish a breakdown unlike publicly-traded TWTR, which has 335 million monthly active users) so it's tough to find exactly which non-WN communities there might be... I am not sure if you are saying that Gab is "majority WN" or that it is "exclusively WN". There are certainly other users (of non-white ethnicities), groups and hashtags represented: Kenyans group https://gab.ai/jojiwanyoike https://gab.ai/jojiwanyoike Search for "Iyer" a typical Indian (Tamil) Brahmin last name: https://gab.ai/search/iyer https://gab.ai/search/iyer
- pcwalton 8y ago
  > I just created a Gab account to try to find hashtags or accounts that are not WN. You did what Andrew Torba wanted you to do. He wants people to come for "free speech", to "give it a fair chance", and so forth, so that they can be exposed to, and grow to accept, neo-Nazi rhetoric. It's a scam. Don't fall for it.
  - patrickg_zill 8y ago
    There's already a bunch on Twitter, where I've had an account for a while. So it's too late for me, but save yourself...!
    - tptacek 8y ago
      Who is this argument trying to kid? Gab is a white supremacist message board. I just reloaded the site 3 times, and got alt-right memes on all 3 loads. The only reason anyone is having a hard time seeing this now is that Gab is dying, and half the posts are innocuous bot content they inject to make it look like the site has activity. Like I said across the thread: even the white supremacists are giving up on the place. Are you really maintaining a Gab account? Why? You could also wear a swastika armband on the same premise: "I'm demonstrating my right to wear what I want, without being coerced by society". Sure, man. But also you're a dude wearing a swastika armband. Reconsider.
manfredo 8y ago
I think it's important to distinguish between platforms that host content of a given topic, and platforms that are specifically set up for a certain topic. For example, Reddit has /r/motorcycles, but I wouldn't call it "a motorcycling discussion platform". I'd call advrider.com or bayarearidersforum.com motorcycle discussion platforms. They're websites specifically set up for motorcycling related discussion. A website that takes a strong stance on free speech like Gab probably has a significant overrepresentation of White Nationalists, by virtue of displacement - most other big platforms ban this content so they migrate to the few places that do allow it. In that sense I think it's fair to call Gab "a platform that tolerates white nationalist" but not "a white nationalist platform". Equating tolerance of an idea as endorsement for an idea is the root of a lot of problems we see today, in my opinion.
- pcwalton 8y ago
  Andrew Torba is obviously a neo-Nazi, so can we put this argument to rest.
  - tptacek 8y ago
    This comment was flagged. It's not, like, the most substantive comment on the thread, but it's not un-substantive. Patrick isn't calling someone here a neo-Nazi, as an epithet. He's pointing out that Torba is one. I think he's probably right. If he's wrong, make an argument; don't abuse the flag button.
- MajesticHobo2 8y ago
  Are you just going to ignore the fact that the official Twitter account for Gab actively promotes white supremacist talking points? It only takes about 30 seconds of scrolling through their feed to see this.
  - manfredo 8y ago
    I scrolled for not only 30 seconds or so but at least a minute. Nowhere do I find Gab actively promoting white supremacy. As far as promoting "white supremacist talking points" this is a pretty substantially different actually supporting white supremacy, and support for that allegation is still pretty vague. The closes things I found are: > “Hate speech” is free speech, as decided unanimously by the Supreme Court of the United States of America. Sure, white supremacists may be more keen to protect hate speech but this statement is factually correct. > Right-wing platforms provide refuge to digital outcasts — and Alex Jones Again, hosting a speaker is not the same as promoting or endorsing what is said. By this logic, Berkeley endorsed Milo Y. > At some point you have to ask yourself: just who is pushing for the censorship? Once you learn who, there is no going back. You can’t unsee what has been seen. You can’t unlearn what has been learned. Arguably echoes allegations that Jewist people control the media, but this is vague at best. Furthermore, the account states that it would not ban left-wing speakers that had written hateful message about whites: > The @verge defends the anti-white hate of @sarahjeong then turns around and maligns Gab as “alt right” for defending free speech for everyone (including Sarah!) I think official Gab twitter account is consistent Gab's claim to allow all legal speech, including hateful speech regardless of political leaning.

anigbrowl 8y ago

Exodus 8:2-7 alludes to an ultimatum threatening to inflict a plague of frogs on Egypt. Because when I want to demonstrate my love of freedom and inclusivity, the first thing I think of is calling down plagues on my enemies.