A social network that champions free speech, individual liberty, and the free flow of information online
- Site Name: gab.com
- Date Created: August 15, 2016
- Number of Users: 1 million users (as of July 19)
- Typical Users: Interested in free speech, conspiracy theories, the alt-right and racist views.
As a champion of free speech, the Gab social media network homepage states that all are welcome. Its founders Andrew Torba and Ekrem Büyükkaya created the social network as a reaction to the mainstream social media platforms, which they perceived to be censoring the posts of its more right-leaning users. (It does have a few types of posts it forbids, however: llegal porn, threats of violence or terrorism and doxing).
After its launch, Gab grew quickly, with 1.5 million posts a month by 2018. According to SimilarWeb, it now boasts almost 4 million visitors a day on average. The social network is known to be highly attractive to alt-right extremists, including neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and others.
Gab made headlines after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting in October 2018 when the shooter’s anti-semitic posts were later revealed on the network.
Here are a few posts of the different types of extremist rhetoric you can find on Gab: