LarrySanger.org

So I tried out Gab.ai

After the recent purges of Alex Jones and assorted conservatives and libertarians by Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and others, I decided it really is time for me to learn more about other social networks that are more committed to free speech. I decided to try Gab.ai, hoping against hope that it wouldn’t prove to be quite as racist as it is reputed to be.

See, while I love freedom of speech and will strongly defend the right of free speech—sure, even of racists and Nazis, even of Antifa and Communists—I don’t want to hang out in a community dominated by actual open racists and Nazis. How boring.

So I went to the website, and, well, Gab.ai certainly does have a lot of people who are at least pretending to be Nazis. I never would have guessed there were that many Nazis online.

To support my impression, I posted a poll:

Are you OK with all the open racism and anti-Semitism on Gab.ai? 57% Yes. 37% I tolerate it. 6% Makes me want to leave.

Wow! 1,368 votes! I sure hit a nerve with Gab.ai. But the results, well, they were disappointing: 57% of self-selected poll answerers on the web poll said they were OK with open racism on Gab.ai, 37% tolerated it, and it made 6% of them want to leave. But I was told by several people that I should have added another option: “That’s what the Mute button is for.”

There’s another reason I’ve spent this much time exploring the site. It’s that I really doubt there are that many actual Nazis on the site. Consider for a moment:

  1. The Establishment is increasingly desperate to silence dissenting voices.
  2. Gab.ai and some other alternative media sites have been getting more popular.
  3. Silicon Valley executives know the fate of MySpace and Yahoo: it’s possible for giants to be replaced. Users are fickle.
  4. Like progressives, most conservatives aren’t actually racist, and they will be put off by communities dominated by open, in-your-face racists.
  5. There’s a midterm election coming up and people spending untold millions to influence social media, since that, we are now told, is where it’s at.

Considering all that, it stands to reason that lots of left-wing trolls are being paid (or happily volunteer; but no doubt many are paid) to flood Gab.ai and make appallingly racist, fascist, anti-Semitic accounts. Of course they are; it’s an obvious strategy. The only question is how many—i.e., what percentage of the Gab.ai users—consist of such faux racists.

Such trolls aside, there are at least two broad categories of people on Gab.ai. In one category there are the bona fide racists, Nazis, anti-Semites, and other such miscreants, and in the other category there is everyone else—mostly conservatives, libertarians, and Trump voters who do things like share videos of (black conservative) Candace Owens and shill for Trump (I voted for Gary Johnson, and I’ve always been bored by political hackery). The latter category of user mutes those of the former category, apparently.

So, feeling desperate for an alternative to Twitter, I spent a few hours today on the site, mostly muting racists, and a bit of getting introduced to some people who assured me that most of the people on the site were decent and non-racist, and that what you had to do was—especially in the beginning—spend a lot of time doing just what I was doing, muting racists.

Boy, are there a lot of racists (or maybe faux racists) there to mute. I still haven’t gotten to the end of them.

But I’m not giving up on Gab.ai, not yet. Maybe it’ll change, or my experience will get better. A lot of people there assured me that it would. I love that it’s as committed to free speech as it is, and I wouldn’t want to censor all those racists and Nazis just as I wouldn’t want to censor Antifa and Communists. Keep America weird, I say!

If it’s not Gab.ai, I do think some other network will rise. Two others I need to spend more time on are Steemit.com, a blockchain blogging website, similar to Medium and closely associated with EOS and Block.one, and Mastodon.social, which is sort of a cross between Twitter and Facebook. Steemit has become pretty popular (more so than Gab.ai), while Mastodon has unfortunately been struggling. I also want to spend more time on BitChute, a growing and reasonably popular YouTube competitor.

by

Larry Sanger

“Internet Knowledge Organizer.” Currently President of the Knowledge Standards Foundation, started Wikipedia and various other educational and reference sites. Ph.D., Philosophy, Ohio State, 2000. [read more]

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Please do dive in (politely). I want your reactions!

37 responses to “So I tried out Gab.ai”

  1. Mike Goatroper

    I took your poll. what I like most about gab is the open racism and antisemitism. on gab you read history that has been suppressed. You read thoughts that are illegal in Europe. On Gab you get to see and hear the real america. you may hate what you see on GAB but that is the real america, the america that elected Trump. I advise you to get used to gab and the Americans that talk there. The age of Liberalism is OVER, get used to it.

    Go ahead get violent, make my day or mute me, You cannot stop America period.

    Reply
    1. Nancy Hollo

      With users like you gab.ai is doomed. You convinced me to stay away from it, just like I stay away from creepy biker bars or dimly lit places at night. Those are probably your favorite places.

      Reply
      1. Jay J

        Gab is a con job. I spent 6 months there, & a true Trump supporter. I found myself in a shadow ban situation after a few months. I was surrounded by Liberal shills/trolls pretending to be disgruntled Trump supporters in order to influence & create doubt in Trump supporters. I realized I was speaking in a echo chamber of shills & got out. Andrew Torba is not a Trump supporter, & he frequently makes comments on Gab that mirror the Liberal troll comments; Ann Coulter type comments, esp. regarding the Wall. Why is the CEO of Gab even commenting on Gab with his opinions? Inappropriate & kind of creepy. There are tons of racist & anti-Semitic comments on Gab that are NOT coming from Trump supporters and are designed to disparage real Trump supporters. It’s a con job, you think it’s an alternative to Twitter; a great Free speech forum, but it’s a Liberal trap forum. The con, Trump supporters booted from Twitter and end up in a Liberal prison camp echo chamber. Beware.

        Reply
    2. Donna

      Gab.com is full of stalkers n porn freaks..Andrew torba is protecting my stalker i met on gab i was banned from gab.com for reporting my stalker to gab.com stay away from gab for your own safety.its full of suck.men all the women get stalked then leave shitty gab.com

      Reply
    3. Donba

      Yeah all gab is a bunch of sick stalker men i have proof ever hear of anyone getting banned from gab.com free speach is nothing on gab.com i was banned from gab.com it sucks royal

      Reply
    4. Donna

      Thats not right gab.com is full of men that just stalk women n look at porn the FACTS.
      Huh free speach i was banned from gab.com ever hear of someone banned..i reported my stalker i met on gab and who andrew torba is protecting on gab.com…im not the only woman its happening to so go ahead n stay on a filthy man filled site that harbours stalkers n porn freaks..i was stalked for 3 months in fear of a man i met on gab.com n kiwifarms.com should be taken down they harbour stalkers also.

      Reply
  2. John Nada

    I’ve been on Gab for 6 months.

    Never muted anyone.

    The only reason to mute someone is if they attack you personally.

    People who talk about the Jews are actually speaking the TRUTH. Do your research! Prove them wrong!

    Try to learn something new. Maybe your eyes will open.

    But you already came to Gab with the idea that you will mute racists.
    You are closed, you don’t want to learn anything new.

    I never feel like I want to mute anyone on Gab.

    If you want to learn something New, study this.
    Don’t be like an old dog who won’t learn new tricks.

    These five people are Jewish — and they talk about the crimes of the Jewish mafia.
    Jews for Hitler http://jewsforhitler.com/index-a.htm

    Brother Nathanael http://www.realjewnews.com/

    Henry Makow https://www.henrymakow.com/

    Israel Shamir http://www.israelshamir.com/

    Also recommend

    Lasha Darkmoon https://www.darkmoon.me/prose/

    Russia Insider

    https://russia-insider.com/en/politics/its-time-drop-jew-taboo/ri22186

    https://russia-insider.com/en/jewish-question

    So, my friend, before you mute people
    First HEAR WHAT THEY HAVE TO SAY

    Reply
    1. Jesus was a jew

      Mute this guy too. He sounds anti-semitic.

      Reply
      1. Jay J

        Gab is full of them and I can tell you, having been on Gab, they are Liberal shills/trolls. Trump supporters are being fooled. Gab is not what I thought it was.

        Reply
    2. Conrad Morris

      I know I’m late to this, but your comment struck a chord with me. I’ve asked people on various forums why they hate the jews and without fail, literally 100% of the time, I get a response like yours.

      “do your research, and prove them wrong.”

      The problem is, there is literally nothing to prove wrong. They always make unfounded accusations and site zero sources in most cases. But, and more to my point, is if you ask a 100 anti senites why the jews are bad, you’ll get 100 different answers. I don’t have time to prove all 100 different answers wrong.

      They all have different reasons for being antisemites with some areas of overlap, but there is no concrete dogma, other than their irrational hatred of the jews, to dispute.

      In short, point me to your research, like any academic debate, so that I may poor over your thesis, read your evidence, and review your sources that lead to your conclusion, so that I may a) agree with your conclusion or bring forth criticism of your method and or sources.

      That’s how discorce works. You don’t get to say, “jews are bad, mmmkay. Don’t believe me? Prove me wrong!” you’ve got to formulate your position first, in a suscinct way, and then say “jews are bad because x, y, z. And here is the evidence to support x, y, and z.”. At that point I get to review it and discuss my issues or agreement.

      I’d love to answer the “jew question,” if only someone would actually ask it.

      Reply
      1. Eric Hamell

        I’ve found it’s a pretty reliable rule of thumb, whatever the topic, that anyone who says “do your research” has no idea what the word actually means. It sometimes has literally taken me only a couple minutes to find information refuting what someone told me I should “research.”

        Reply
    3. Donna

      I was stalked for 3 months from a man i met on gab i reported my stalker to gab.com n they banned me fot reporting a stalker im not the only woman its happening to its filled with men that stalk n porn freaks prove me wrong n you cant. Gab.com is protecting stalkers n porn freaks ive done 2 bad reviews on gab.com its disgraceful more women are leaving gab because of andrew torba harbouring stalkers

      Reply
      1. Larry Sanger

        Sorry to hear that, Donna.

        Reply
  3. John Nada

    Oh, the fifth Jewish writer is Gilad Atzmon

    http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/

    Try to educate yourself.

    Reply
  4. Martha Range

    FREE SPEECH MEANS FREE SPEECH. I don’t particularly enjoy reading antisemitic or racist hate, but these people still have the right to speak freely. Any one who doesn’t like to read it can mute those people. On GAB EVERYONE has free speech.
    >
    As a born again Christian and non-denominational Minister, I would rather have these people on GAB than have Facebook, Twitter, and others telling me what I can say. I was suspended from Twitter because I said Muslims are a death cult. That they are here to invade us and destroy our way of life. I spoke the truth, but this goes against the NWO design for the world.
    >
    These fascists in Silicon Valley decided to censor anyone’s free speech, including Christians. Soon these social media sites will all be one big echo chamber where hating the President and plotting against the stability of the country is done with impunity. That is what censorship does. It stifles people’s free thought.

    I guess that is what people like you want.

    Reply
    1. Smart bombs for dumb presidents

      Christians are a dealth cult too…. Look at how many Muslims we killed.

      Reply
      1. Conrad Morris

        Sources please?

        Reply
  5. Zorost

    You:
    “…I really doubt there are that many actual Nazis on the site.”

    “…10 percent, say they support the so-called alt-right movement…”
    https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/28-approve-trumps-response-charlottesville-poll/story?id=49334079

    Assuming a negligible # of non-whites support the alt-right, that means about 15% of whites do.

    As long as we are on the subject… why do you equate racism with nazism? Where the Founders nazis? They certainly were racist, as shown not only by owning slaves and exterminating Indians, but by every immigration law up until 1965. By most definitions I see of “nazi” today, virtually everyone that has ever existed in history is a nazi. Which means that word has no value for defining ideas, only maligning them.

    How do you define “racist?” As someone who recognizes that the races are genetically different? If so, being racist is logical and scientific.

    You claim to be a libertarian; have you ever been to a libertarian meet-up? Did you notice how 95+% of the attendees were white? The only way libertarian values can hold sway in a democracy is if a large majority of the voters are white. It is not a coincidence that as we have gotten browner, we’ve also gotten more Leftist.

    Whites are the only race that supports gun rights in the majority.
    Whites are the only race that supports small government in the majority.
    Whites are the only race that votes Republican in the majority.
    The Brookings Institute estimates that due to demographic change that cannot be reversed (legal citizens only), the last year Republicans have any chance to win the presidency is 2028.

    pg 35 summary chart
    https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/SOC2016report.pdf

    If you don’t support whites remaining a large majority you are effectively pro-leftism, pro-statism, pro-socialism. Your personal views don’t matter if you support a system that inevitably leads to a Democrat 1-party state.

    Reply
  6. TFS

    Have you considered the possibility that the overwhelming anti-white bias of current liberal America has in fact spawned these racists as a reaction? Whenever you tell people, over and over again, over decades, that they are horrible individuals and responsible for all society’s ills, and they know in their bones they haven’t done any of what they are accused of being ethnically guilty for, it’s bound to rebound badly. When the pendulum swings too far in one direction, it’s also going to swing pretty wildly in the opposite one. Eventually it will gain equilibrium but that won’t be for a long time.

    Reply
    1. Larry Sanger

      Yes, I’ve thought of that. Many of us have. But I think a fair few of the more vocal and visible “Nazis” about are actually leftists masquerading as Nazis, LARPing for the cause.

      Reply
      1. w41n4m01n3n

        I for one am a bona fide National Socialist and I am active not only on the Internet (Gab, Stormfront etc.), but also in real life.

        I participate in events and demonstrations by the Nordic Resistance Movement, and I work with the NSDAP/AO, a National Socialist organization which have been active globally since 1972, and is a direct continuation of the original NSDAP & NSDAP/AO of the Third Reich.

        Apparently my previous comment was too much, as it was not published on this site. But no worries, I published the very same comment on Gab.

        You don’t seem too keen on letting the truth of WWII and the Holocaust be known, now do you, Larry?

        Reply
        1. Larry Sanger

          I’ll let this comment stand, just for “fun.” I’ll keep this person on a short leash, though.

        2. Aj

          Capitalism will always rule, you pleeb

      2. Jay J

        I am convinced that Andrew Torba is NOT a Trump supporter; the man is a Neocon. Just the other day, I went on Gab, (no longer a member) just to search Torba’s comments to confirm what I witnessed before I left. I can see he has not changed. 8 days ago, he again made negative comments about Trump relating to the Wall. He even suggested that ICE agents are against Trump. His comments mirror those of the negative, fake Trump supporters on Gab. It’s a really a shill forum for Liberal trolls to undermine Trump supporters.

        Reply
        1. Larry Sanger

          Interesting; I don’t have a dog in this fight, it seems to me. I voted for Gary Johnson and would again. I wouldn’t call myself a neocon, though. But I have tried to get answers out of Andrew Torba, and he’s entirely unresponsive. I do suspect that Gab has been flooded by leftist shills (or Russian bots!!!!!!1!1one) impersonating conservatives, as you say, both to put off conservatives from Gab and to make Gab look totally irrelevant.

          Well, that’s what he gets for starting an unmoderated forum. Everybody who knows anything about the Internet knows that you get a useless mess when you give up all moderation.

          Who knows—maybe he’ll discover more sophisticated ways of allowing the community to be self-moderating, like Stack Overflow.

        2. Brick Hardbody

          This post struck a chord with me as well. I tried out gab and I was actually amazed at how many racists are there. I just quit since I literally don’t have enough time to block them all. I may try again in the future.

        3. Larry Sanger

          Yes, I gave up too. The people who were left after I blocked all the racists (or LARPing leftists/competitors) weren’t enough to keep me around. I wouldn’t entirely rule it out. With the massive push toward censorship (a.k.a. “regulation”), the world desperately needs uncensored social media sites.

  7. Paul Bonneau

    If racists are being purged on free speech-hating sites, it is natural they would migrate to free speech-supporting sites, and then comprise a large fraction of the people there. That is no hit on free speech, or the sites that support it. It’s the fault of the free speech-hating sites.

    There is also the problem of agents provocateurs, as you mention. I consider the “Hitler love” posts to be almost exclusively from them. It is certain there is a large number of such people on the site.

    Finally, one has to avoid mindlessly parroting mainstream media about such topics as racism. Is racism actually bad, in every case? What if people just want to live with their own kind, harming no one else to obtain that condition? I am no racist; I have an interracial marriage. But I don’t mind any racist who does not want to plant a boot on my neck; and even if he does want that, it’s the boot that is the problem, not his opinion about race. Other than that, it is none of my business. MYOB (mind your own business), as they say.

    Reply
  8. Aziraphael

    Hi Mr Sanger!
    I have been on Gab for about a year now & I decided to take a break from it, not due to racism (although as you know there is heaps of it there!) but because I believe my account has been compromised. My Gab account (to my shock or indeed horror!) was surprizingly popular with over 600 likes & reposts a day, but since April this year that interaction has dropped to nothing & I have no idea why. However yesterday I discovered that Andrew Torba had a summit 2.0 with investors from “StartEngine” back at that same time in April, & it appears that there has been some kind of compromise on user content published to Gab, such as an algorithm & / or shadowbans. Other popular accounts have also been affected!
    I am, what I can loosely term as an alt-news hound, searching & digging around for the truth. & push out the news that is being hidden from us (I was banned from twitter too) but I am just a fairly boring right of center conservative.
    Today if you go to Gab “explore” tab & scroll the top, most popular posts of the day all you will see is cute pictures wishing everyone good morning / night & every other one is in Portugese (Brazil users very popular) with hardly any content I would term as nazi. Anti semite Mr Little is still hanging about though I had him muted, I believe he will be gone soon. Anyway, if there has been some kind of purge on nazi’s I am sure this is a good thing! But it’s also affected “news” from alt-media, users like me which suggests an algorithm change to keep Gab investors happy, as afterall Gab is a business
    Give Gab some time, as it’s certainly less racist than it was a year ago (perhaps I just muted them all!) & perhaps I may return sometime soon, but I just need a break from social media!

    Reply
    1. Larry Sanger

      Thanks for the feedback–very interesting.

      Reply
  9. California Chick

    Here’s the issue. People have a right to free speech and expressing their opinions. I loathe racists as much as I loathe the thought police. They both stink. The thing is, if you put content on a site like gab, the thought police suddenly believe you are racist because they profile people and companies just like what they’re claiming to not like. They are their own enemy!

    The problem is that people are so divided and controlled by the thought police that if you put your content on anything where some racist jerk is then people assume you are racist because no one can think for themselves any longer. They’ve allowed others to tell them how to think.

    For example, a simple picture of a frog or a hand symbol is used as a joke. Suddenly some group gets a hold of the information and talks about how racist it is and suddenly the politicians grab it and make the symbol look racist and then the whole left suddenly decides that image anyone who uses it a racist. It’s the dumbest concept ever! We’ve become spineless, brain dead puppets of the politically correct.

    Yes, real racism and sexism are bad. Not giving a good job to a QUALIFIED person because of one’s race, sex, or creed is bad practice. The problem is that it has come all the way down to speech, and not only is it just speech but it is protected special rights speech. If a person who is a minority tells a joke then people laugh. If a white male tells a joke then people are shocked and disgusted. He gets banned everywhere. How is this even equal?

    I tell horror stories and youtube pretty much hates me for it. I’d like to put my horror stories in other places, but I get attacked by SJWs because I think political correctness and the thought police are ridiculous and they don’t like it. So now I don’t have place really because everyone is going to shun one site because of a bunch of people believed to be racist. Honestly, I haven’t watched their videos because I prefer an off button instead of people trying censor others for you. As someone who enjoys conspiracy theories I can probably imagine what their conspiracy theory is because I know the BS stories told by people who believe that Zionests are the Illuminati (lol) and crazy stories like that, but by this definition we can’t even come up with horror books or sci-fi thrillers because OMG this person is taking a nation and making it “EVIL.”

    Do you get what I mean? Political correctness is just plain stupid. What it does is give one group of people the right to say anything they want about others yet no one has the right to an opinion or speech.

    There are creepy nazi-type racist people everywhere and this also includes the politically correct.

    And I can’t even sign my name to this because some whacko SJW will come and attack my posts and ruin MY business because I believe that people have a right to an opinion and individual thought and action. Hell, we can’t even anything on the street or some masked goon from that fascist communist group will attack you with physical violence. (yes, you can be fascist and either socialist/communist at the same time but again, people don’t believe it because they have no independent thoughts these days.)

    Reply
  10. Paulo

    What is the problem anyway? Being racist or expressing yourself? You can always disagree or ignore.

    Reply
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