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Gab is offline: social media site down after Pittsburgh synagogue terror attack

Lottie Casas October 29, 2018

Social media site Gab is offline after multiple companies involved in the hosting and payment processing stopped providing services to it.

Pitched as an alternative to Twitter, the site claims to offer users a platform for "free speech". However it emerged after the Pittsburgh synagogue terror attack that the suspect had posted anti-Semitic comments before killing 11 people and injuring another six.

Gab is popular with the so-called alt-right and those who post things that Twitter will not allow. Users banned from Twitter have migrated to Gab and the site has become a safe haven for those who post racist or anti-Semitic comments.

So far domain name host GoDaddy, web host Joylent and payment services PayPal and Stripe have refused to allow the company access to their services. This has left the site without an income and access to the infrastructure needed to continue operating.

GoDaddy told The Verge "We have informed Gab.com that they have 24 hours to move the domain to another provider, as they have violated our terms of service".

App stores have previously prevented Gab from providing its app on their platforms. Apple has never allowed it, citing the availability of pornographic content.

Google removed the app last year, and was sued for doing so. Gab later withdrew its lawsuit against Google.

A post on Gab’s website claimed it was "under attack" and "systematically no-platformed". It also claimed it was working with US authorities to provide evidence and ensure "justice is served for the horrible atrocity committed in Pittsburgh".

Today the company claimed that "Social media posts do not kill people. Social media posts help law enforcement create cases against people who do though".

The company had also posted to Twitter in the wake of the attack in Pittsburgh that it was seeing record traffic.

Like Gab, both Twitter and Facebook have been heavily criticised for allowing hate speech on their platform. Both companies have increased efforts to tackle the problem but users still complain of abuse on both.

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