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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Gab network woos ‘alt-right’

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By Thomas Urbain — Squeezed out of Twitter and other social media websites cracking down on hate speech, far-right activists are finding a home on a new platform that promises never to censor content. Launched in August, Gab has become known as a safe haven for the “alt-right” movement dominated by the white supremacists who are helping fuel America’s deepening polarisation. The social network currently has 100,000 members and another 200,000 on its waiting list, according to the company.


“All are welcome to speak freely,” spokesman Utsav Sanduja says.


Gab is unable to accommodate all those who want to join, he adds, because it is still in its test phase. The social network’s rise comes amid Twitter’s suspension of political activists for purportedly promoting racist and harassing comments. One of the new “Gabbers,” Richard Spencer, heads the white supremacist National Policy Institute, whose account Twitter has suspended.


Spencer, whose “Hail Trump” comments were seen as evocative of the Nazi era, joined the Twitter exile along with Milo Yiannopoulos, accused of fomenting a social media campaign against the African-American actress Leslie Jones.


Gab’s appearance follows the launch two years ago of another free-speech labelled platform, Voat, which has had limited success.


But the new site comes amid escalating tensions and acrimony over politics in social media.


Gab, meanwhile, pledges no censoring or filtering, allowing users to post messages of 300 characters, compared with Twitter’s 140-character limit.


Headquartered in the Caribbean island Anguilla, Gab is “bootstrapped,” or self-financed, with some donations from the “Gab community.” Despite its user base, Gab denies having a political agenda.


“Gab is for everyone and our mission is to challenge censorship on a global scale,” Sanduja says.


“Whether it is from authoritarian governments persecuting their own people, politically incorrect citizens engaging in peaceful and civil discourse or whistleblowers in establishment institutions seeking a safe refuge, Gab will always be there for them and the people.”


Although the platform’s terms prohibit calls for violence or “terrorism,” many messages on the site are overtly racist or anti-Semitic.


That reflects the belief of Gab’s founders “that free speech is a fundamental right, one that is absolute and cannot be vitiated in any way,” Sanduja says. That means “a free exchange of ideas” on the site “without proscription.”— AFP


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