Billed as an alternative to Twitter, Gab is a social network that positions itself as a champion of free speech “and the free flow of information online”. There are some restrictions to user-generated content, though these are limited only to content and activities that are illegal, including terroristic threats and doxing (where a user’s personal information is posted online). Earlier this year, Gab, the “free speech” social network and a popular forum for far-right viewpoint holders and other fringe groups, launched a browser extension named Dissenter that creates an alternative comment section for any website.
Days before the event, Turning Point USA removed Gab from the list of sponsors without explanation. In March 2017, Gab added Pro accounts and on May 8, 2017, Gab exited private beta testing. Also in May, Gab launched its Android app for the Google Play Store. In August 2017, GabTV, a live-streaming service, was launched for GabPro members.
The Dissenter web browser is built for The People, not advertisers. Block Big Tech ads and trackers by default. Discover a comment section on every URL online. Welcome to the free speech internet.
On July 4, Gab switched its software infrastructure to run on a forked version of Mastodon, a free and open-source decentralized social network platform. The change attempted to circumvent the rejection of Gab’s mobile app from the Google Play Store and the iOS App Store, as Gab users gained access to the social network through third-party Mastodon apps that did not subsequently block Gab.
Gab does not use advertising, describing itself as an “ad-free social network”. The site began offering a premium subscription service for Gab named “GabPro” in mid-March 2017. The subscription allowed users to have private chats for up to 25 people; private chat with a maximum of two users was later added for all users, and the GabPro limit was increased to 50.
Dissenter Review 2020 – The Ad Blocking ‘Free Speech’ Browser by…
The GabTV service advertised on its StartEngine crowdfunding page as of January 2019[ref] was only active very briefly in early 2018, and also as of January 2019[update], the dedicated page for the service is blank. Unlike other social media companies, Gab did not publish the count of its active users in 2018 and only reported registered accounts. Social media intelligence company Storyful found 19,526 unique usernames had posted content during a seven-day period between January 9 and January 16, 2019, far lower than Gab’s claimed 850,000 registered users.
We only send the communications described above to an underage user upon providing notice to the parent. If you no longer wish to receive administrative email messages from GAB-on! Dissenter is a browser extension that lets users make comments on anything from Facebook pages to specific tweets and local news sites. The comments are visible to anyone, but commenting requires a Gab account. Archived from the original on May 3, 2019 – via Twitter.
Little was suspended indefinitely from Gab in late November, 2018 for encouraging harassment of private individuals; Gab stressed that although Little’s account had posted hate speech, it was not the cause of the ban. The site was launched in 2017 and claimed to have almost 1,000,000 registered user accounts by July 2019.
It has been noted to attract far-right and alt-right users and groups who have been banned from other social networks. The platform populace is primarily “conservative, male, and Caucasian”. As of 2018[update], the site’s most-followed users included high-profile, far-right figures such as Richard B. Spencer, Mike Cernovich, and Alex Jones. Gab recognizes far-right websites such as Breitbart News and InfoWars as competitors, according to a March 2018 financial filing. Gab does not moderate views posted by its users until they are flagged for any violations and says it “treats its users as adults”.
, two popular Mastodon mobile apps, had already blacklisted Gab’s domains and banned Gab users from using their app. In early-October 2018, Gab’s Stripe account was suspended due to adult content on Gab. During the 2018 Brazilian presidential election, many right-wing Brazilian political pages were banned from Facebook for breaching the site’s hate speech rules.
This creates a discussion page where users can post a comment (or “Dissent”), and the comments can be up- or down-voted by other users of the site. By using the Dissenter browser extension, users may read and post comments in an overlay while viewing page content. The Dissenter website also features a news ticker on which users can follow current events. In April 2019, Dissenter was removed from the Firefox Add-ons website and the Chrome Web Store for violation of their policies. In July 2019, Gab switched its software infrastructure to a fork of Mastodon, a free and open-source social network platform.
Dissenter describes itself as “a free, open-source utility that allows people to dissent from orthodoxy and express what they are really thinking, without fear of reprisal”. It was developed as a response to multiple social media platforms’ and online news sites’ moderation practices, which involve removal of individual comments or deleting or disabling comment sections altogether. Users with registered Gab accounts may submit content to Dissenter in the form of a URL to a page on which they want to comment.
- Dissenter describes itself as “a free, open-source utility that allows people to dissent from orthodoxy and express what they are really thinking, without fear of reprisal”.
- It was developed as a response to multiple social media platforms’ and online news sites’ moderation practices, which involve removal of individual comments or deleting or disabling comment sections altogether.
Dissenter Review 2020 – The Ad Blocking ‘Free Speech’ Browser by Gab
Users of the site commonly mocked Torba for the site’s emptiness, with some accusing him of inflating user numbers. In a December 2018 filing, the company reported that 5,000 users were paying for its subscription services.
GabPro subscribers can also view a topic breakdown for other users, make lists of users to sort their home feed, livestream on GabTV (though this has since been removed), and more easily get their profile verified. Subscribers also get a “PRO” badge next to their posts. In July 2017, Gab also started an investment project which met its goal of $1.07 million on August 19, 2017. On August 9, 2018, Torba announced that Microsoft Azure, Gab’s host, had threatened to suspend the site for “weeks/months” if they failed to remove two antisemitic posts made by Patrick Little, a U.S.
Mastodon released a statement in protest, denouncing Gab as trying to monetize racism under claims of free speech. Over the past few years, a number of new “fringe” communities, like 4chan or certain subreddits, have gained traction on the Web at a rapid pace. However, more often than not, little is known about how they evolve or what kind of activities they attract, despite recent research has shown that they influence how false information reaches mainstream communities. This motivates the need to monitor these communities and analyze their impact on the Web’s information ecosystem.
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In response, many administrators of these pages began promoting Gab as an alternative platform; subsequently, Brazilians became the second-largest demographic of Gab users. Jair Bolsonaro’s party, the Social Liberal Party, has an official Gab account. In December 2018, Gab sponsored Turning Point USA’s “Student Action Summit” in Palm Beach, Florida.
So, until people are complaining, the platform will not take any appropriate action against the threats and hate speech posted in the comments. Though it is known for its tolerance for fringe views and has drawn immense heat from the public, things took turn for the worse after the recent Christchurch shooting.
Senate candidate who had been ejected from the Republican Party for his antisemitism. On the same day, Alex Jones interviewed Torba on The Alex Jones Show during his coverage of his own permanent ban from YouTube.
A far-right extremist who shot dead 20+ Muslims and left 30 others injured in two Mosques in New Zealand, had shared his extremist manifesto on social media sites like Gab and 8chan. He had also live-streamed the shooting on Facebook, Youtube, and others.
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It is a social news aggregation and discussion service, created to allow commenting on any webpage outside of the site owner’s control. The SPLC reported on January 24, 2019, that Gab has misrepresented its services and bloated its user count in its filings and promotional materials.
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What is Gab dissenter?
On February 24, 2019, Gab launched a browser extension and website called Dissenter, which allows users of Gab to make comments about any webpage including news articles, YouTube videos, and individual social media posts. The Dissenter website also features a news ticker on which users can follow current events.
In August 2016, a new social network called Gab was created as an alternative to Twitter. It positions itself as putting “people and free speech first'”, welcoming users banned or suspended from other social networks. In this paper, we provide, to the best of our knowledge, the first characterization of Gab. We also measure the prevalence of hate speech on the platform, finding it to be much higher than Twitter, but lower than 4chan’s Politically Incorrect board. On February 24, 2019, Gab launched a browser extension and website called Dissenter, which allows users of Gab to make comments about any webpage including news articles, YouTube videos, and individual social media posts.