Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean slammed the company Gab and called for the social network to be tried as an “accomplice to murder.”
The platform was taken offline after it was revealed that the suspected Pittsburgh synagogue shooter had posted threats against Jews on the site.
“You are a facilitator of neo nazis and other haters. You should be tried for being an accomplice to murder,” Dean, a 2004 Democratic presidential candidate and former Chair of the Democratic National Committee, tweeted Sunday.
You are a facilitator of neo nazis and other haters. You should be tried for being an accomplice to murder. You’re lucky shutting you down is all you get. A lot luckier than the 11 Jews in Pittsburgh were or the two African Americans murdered in Kentucky were. https://t.co/BjJyTbP4dC
— Howard Dean (@GovHowardDean) October 29, 2018
The company fired back at Dean, declaring that it defended people’s First Amendment rights, even if it did not agree with the posted speech.
Our moderation policy mirrors the First Amendment. Our sole objective is to provide all people with a means to exercise the First Amendment, as-written, on the Internet. That means making tough moderation calls – not because we agree with the speech but because we defend 1A.
— Gab.com? (@getongab) October 29, 2018
Gab.com announced Monday that it would be “inaccessible for a period of time” after losing its hosting provider.
Aaaand, there goes Gab. pic.twitter.com/vJy3Xdzh7B
— ?????? ??????? (@lilsarg) October 29, 2018
Suspected gunman Robert Bowers, who allegedly opened fire at Tree of Life synagogue Saturday murdering 11 people, reportedly targeted Jews on the social media platform which has been billed as an alternative to Twitter.
The ‘free speech social network,” as Gab bills itself, was given a day by domain provider, GoDaddy.com, to switch to another provider.
If @GoDaddy steals a six figure domain from us you can be sure we will take legal action to the fullest extent of the law. https://t.co/JqcajGXrcx
— Gab.com? (@getongab) October 29, 2018
The company tweeted about being banned from using Stripe and PayPal as payment processors, and the cloud hosting service Joyent. The publisher Medium had also removed its posts, Gab reported.
“We have been smeared … for working with law enforcement to ensure that justice is served for the horrible atrocity committed in Pittsburgh,” it said, CNN reported.
In the last 24 hours Gab has been banned from these internet infrastructure providers for supporting free speech and helping law enforcement bring justice to a terrorist:@joyent @paypal@stripe@medium@godaddy
Are you paying attention yet @realDonaldTrump and @parscale?
— Gab.com? (@getongab) October 29, 2018
In a statement, PayPal announced it was taking “immediate” action in the wake of Gab’s alleged “perpetuation of hate.”
“When a site is explicitly allowing the perpetuation of hate, violence or discriminatory intolerance, we take immediate and decisive action,” PayPal said.
Founded by Andrew Torba in 2016, Gab basically allowed its nearly 800,000 users to post freely about anything.
GoDaddy’s directive apparently caused Gab to seek an overseas provider.
Just spoke to our broker about @godaddy and he recommended we transfer to a DNS outside of the United States. Welcome to 2018 where freedom of speech isn’t defended by US Corporations.
— Gab.com? (@getongab) October 29, 2018
Hosting provider Joyent announced it would suspend Gab’s service on Oct. 29, as Stripe, a payment processor, said it would cancel transfers to Gab’s bank account “effective immediately,” according to Gizmodo.
Okay @joyent, expect to hear from the FBI and DOJ then. pic.twitter.com/SCJaNsVcmm
— Gab.com? (@getongab) October 29, 2018
The social media platform defiantly tweeted about the “attacks” it was facing.
Mainstream media and big tech attacks are only making Gab stronger.
Idiots.
— Gab.com? (@getongab) October 29, 2018
Dean’s call for Gab to be tried as an “accomplice” sparked heated debate on Twitter as some agreed that the company should have been more responsible while others called for the same standard to be used against Facebook and Twitter, slamming Dean in the process.
That doesn’t absolve your responsibility to moderate your platform.
— atrocity exhibition (@chriscrisis) October 29, 2018
They should be held responsible! They need to be bankrupt.
— Melissa1950 (@Melissa43565759) October 29, 2018
Take your virtue signalling elsewhere. That’s why you aren’t President, the spineless can’t lead.
— Gabriel Knight (@PhosphorKnight) October 29, 2018
Yes, and while we are at it, let’s shut down every auto manufacturer, every beer distributor, every company peddling cigarettes, burn all books, movies, and video games. Every single industry that indirectly is as guilty as GAB for what happened. You sure are a dumbass for a Gov.
— Mike (@Woelfe) October 29, 2018
He had a Facebook account to I assume you’re sending Zuckerberg the same message right?…
— ✈?Copters4Commies? ?????? (@ToddORiley) October 29, 2018
Hmm? ? pic.twitter.com/WsMLcbLiRF
— Juan Wayne (@scratchhere) October 29, 2018
Should Twitter also be subject to this treatment, then? Or are we cherrypicking which websites we’re lynching?
— Autismo (@bornestellar) October 29, 2018
Did the creators of the boeing 747 ‘facilitate’ 9/11?
— Matthew Saunders (@N4V1GAT0R) October 29, 2018
A terrifying thing for a politician to say. By your logic, every social media platform operator could be arrested for being accomplices to crimes.
— Marcus T. Cicero (@cedantarmatog1) October 29, 2018
Twitter should be tried as an accomplice to terrorism with Sayoc, shouldn’t it? Also, since Richard Spencer is a verified check mark, Twitter’s a facilitator of neo-Nazis, aren’t they? Either you’re a geezer who doesn’t know what he’s talking about, or you’re a liar.
— Michael Klingensmith (@MrMike855) October 29, 2018
Where exactly do you think the Bernie Sanders fan who shot up the Republican Congress baseball practice was “radicalized”? Books? No. Twitter. It wasn’t Twitter’s fault he did it. And this isn’t Gab’s.
— Trent Steele (@TrentSteele14) October 29, 2018
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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