Gab goes offline in wake of Pittsburgh shooting

Technology firms withdraw services to the social media website that carried anti-Semitic messages before the Pittsburgh attack.

Gab.com, a website similar to Twitter, that carried anti-Semitic messages just before the Pittsburgh shooting on Saturday (October 27), has been taken offline after several technology companies, including PayPal and GoDaddy, withdrew services provided to the platform.

Hosting and domain provider, GoDaddy, has banned the company after saying it discovered “numerous instances of content on the site that both promotes and encourages violence against people”.

Along with payment giant Paypal, Stripe has also stopped offering services to Gab.

The company, which has nearly 800,000 users, was founded in 2016 by conservative Andrew Torba, and describes itself as the "free speech" alternative to Twitter and Facebook, resulting in it becoming a popular website that users post content unwelcome or prohibited on other platforms.

A verified account that matches the alleged Tree of Life Synagogue shooter, has been active on the platform and had posted numerous anti-Semitic messages before the Pittsburgh shooting.

Additional tech companies to take action against Gab include Apple and Google, who have both banned its app from their respective stores.

In a statement displayed on gab.com in place of the platform, Gab CEO Andrew Torba said: “Gab has been no-platformed by essential internet infrastructure providers at every level.

"We are the most censored, smeared, and no-platformed startup in history, which means we are a threat to the media and to the Silicon Valley Oligarchy."

He added: “Gab isn’t going anywhere. It doesn’t matter what you write. It doesn’t matter what the sophist talking heads say on TV. It doesn’t matter what verified nobodies say on Twitter.

"We have plenty of options, resources, and support. We will exercise every possible avenue to keep Gab online and defend free speech and individual liberty for all people.

“As we transition to a new hosting provider Gab will be inaccessible for a period of time. We are working around the clock to get Gab.com back online.”