Tired of Twitter censorship? Gab claims to offer an alternative

The Coach's Team ^ | 6/11/18 | Jim Bray

[Oldpuppymax]

In our increasingly divided and partisan society, it appears that some forces are stepping up their efforts to silence others, shutting down debate rather than taking part in it. It's a mark of folks who know they have no winning argument, so therefore have to project, obfuscate and name call rather than actually address issues.

Snowflakes!

This is nothing new, but in the Trump era – in which the losing side of the 2016 presidential election still thinks of itself as the side of goodness despite increasing evidence to the contrary – U.S. President Trump's efforts to drain the deep state swamp seem to be causing new and ever more ominous fits on that side of the ideological ledger. It's quite entertaining to watch!

I don't do Twitter much (generally, I post only to announce when I have new rants on my website), but it has come to my attention that Twitter (and others) is blocking and/or banning certain posters whose ideology may not comport with the looniness that dominates mainstream media and leftists (but I repeat myself). If true, then that mocks the principles of free speech and open discussion that is a great deal of the internet's promise and appeal, though it's also consistent with the "this business refuses the right to refuse service…" canon the left loves until someone refuses to bake a cake.

What's a person to do if he/she/it believes in freedom of expression regardless of whose expression it is?

Well, I've discovered a competitor to Twitter that promises to address the issue. It's called Gab (www.gab.ai), and while it doesn't look like it has nearly the reach that Twitter does, you have to start somewhere.

Gab's philosophy is spelled out in the site's Community Guidelines, which among many other things says...

[snarkpup]

I use three news aggregators and typically have (at least) one browser tab open for each:

1. Free Republic: Mostly for U.S. news,

2. Twitter: Mostly for foreign news,

3. Gab: Mostly for info sources that have been kicked off Twitter.

The volume of stuff on Gab is currently quite small; and sometimes I only check it once or twice a day. I see Gab mostly as something that is waiting in the wings, to be used when and if Twitter completely fails.

[WKUHilltopper]

I’m sure, once they build up their “user base”, they’ll become just as homo as twitter.

[thoughtomator]

Gab has become my go-to source for info on anything censored by FB and/or Twitter.

[Reno89519]

Sorry, not a viable alternative. Tried it, dropped it. Bad first impression. Haven't felt even remotely motivated to revisit.

Next...

[Reno89519]

One complaint is the site embraces pornography and tries to split hairs between LEGAL and ILLEGAL pornography. Where is any pornography acceptable?

[tbw2]

Google has been actively censoring conservative and non-PC content in a variety of ways, both via search and on Youtube. Even if they don’t explicitly ban it, they often put up so many hurdles that it is like standing in the tiny “free speech area” on a college campus that it really doesn’t exist.

The Methods and Layers of Censorship on YouTube
https://hubpages.com/technology/The-Methods-and-Layers-of-Censorship-on-YouTube

[VanDeKoik]

Beggars cant be choosers.

Either help build numbers for alternatives or stop complaining about Twitter.

[thoughtomator]

“embraces” implies active measures and I just don’t see that

if you don’t follow people who are into porn you’re not going to see much of it

[Reno89519]

My money is on getting Twitter and Facebook to open up and allow all legal discussion without regard to politics. End their censoreship. They need to embrace being a "public" forum.

So, to your comment, I have been and continue to be an advocate of FIX Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube, not tilt at windmill alternatives that don't exist.

[thoughtomator]

I do have to admire the size and breadth of your choice of windmills. The people running those companies are a key part of the problem.

[tenger]

The question becomes, how do you fix twitter, facebook, even gab.ai? My impression of gab was the same as yours.

In an ideal world, what would a twitter-like site have or not have? Let's create one.

There are plenty of clone sites that you can have standing before the end of the day today that resemble Twitter, so what would your criteria for a good twitter-like site be? You would absolutely need to tweek and fix, but it's doable. Expand hosting as you go.

[itsahoot]

Where is any pornography acceptable?

Go to google pictures and type in naked sex or something and be amazed, then click on videos for the coarsest stuff you will have ever seen. Did that out of curiosity was amazed by what is available to anyone that wants to look, including your kids if you haven't locked them up in your browser an their phones.

You need to know the enemy you are facing folks.

[Spacetrucker]

Why is GAB.AI not available on Google Play Store?

[Red Badger]

‘Free speech’ social platform Gab has gone offline:

https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3700844/posts