Gab是如何在匹兹堡这种被指责反犹主义嫌疑盛行的城市中成为社交媒体站点的

受访者站在当时枪手在犹太人tree of life集会上开枪的地方

Gene J Puskar  美联社

Abby Vesoulis写于

          十月27

在Gab公司承认枪手曾使用其平台发布反犹反移民的言论后，这场发生在匹兹堡犹太人集会期间混乱的枪击事件让社交平台Gab成为聚焦点

Gab，总部设立在费拉德尔菲亚，当初作为“言论自由”版本的推特建立。但是被打上了充斥种族主义，仇恨的烙印，尤其是在白人至上主义者Richard Spencer开始使用它以后。这个网站聚集了大约四十八万的使用者，相比较七月的报告，推特有超过三亿的月活跃人数。

当Facebook，推特主动清除有关种族主义和反犹主义的帖子时，Gab则采取了更加自由的做法。

“我们很注重个人的权利，“Utsav

Sanduja, Gab的首席执行官年初告诉VICE记者，”很多政治言论被标榜为仇恨演讲然后被抹去。“

前员工告诉TIME时报他认为让Gab这种网站存在十分重要。

“坦率地说，我宁愿让那种言论展现在大众面前，而不是在地下发酵，“Sanduja说到。“当你删改人们的言论，剥夺他们自由交流的权利时，一些人就会转向犯罪，转入地下。”

对不受约束的言论自由的承诺使这个平台受到很多右翼团体的欢迎，也包括所谓的另类右翼。

反诽谤联盟，一个致力于对抗反犹主义的组织，在一份有关2018年社交媒体中的反犹报告里提到了Gab。

“网络骚扰、带节奏的惊人扩张恰好与线上反犹主义的增长相吻合，”报告写道，“一些小众网络通信软件，例如4chan，8chan和Gab，允许类似观点泛滥；然后又迅速地传播到推特、Reddit等其他的主流社交媒体。”

一个Gab账号登记为Robert Bowers—和制造周六犹太人集会枪击案的嫌疑人同名，曾发表过数个反犹太人帖子。

在这场造成11人死亡，6人受伤的枪击案数小时前，一个帖子写道：“HIAS想要把那些祸害人民的入侵者带入这个国家。我不能坐视我的同胞遭到屠杀，去他丫的，我要大干一场。”HIAS，希伯来人移民援助会，一个提供庇护救助的非营利组织。

在给TIME的声明中，Gab说它已经冻结了Bowers名下的账户并将之提供给联邦政府。

“在袭击发生之后不久，Gab就被告知了被指控为犹太人集会上的枪手的账户。这个账户后来被确认与警方监控上的犯罪嫌疑人同名。这个人在别的社交媒体上也有其他账号。”Gab说到。

这个声明也说到gab网站是反对暴力的。

“Gab坚决地否定、谴责任何恐怖主义和暴力行为。这是我们的一贯政策。”这个社交媒体说到。

同时，随着枪击事件的发酵，Gab的推特帐户接受了大量流量。

            今天我们的点击量达到了一小时一百万次。

                          Gab.com🍂(@getongab)2018 10.27

这不是第一次Gab成为新闻事件。

过去，Gab声称它反复地被苹果应用商店和Google Play阻止上架。事实上，这个网站曾因被Google拒绝列出它而起诉Google。

“苹果正要求Gab审查‘令人反感的内容’，却允许同样的内容存在于更大体量，更主流的社交频道上，”Gab CEO安德鲁·托尔巴在2017年告诉INC记者。“我们的app用着比其他社交软件更高要求的审查标准。”

另外，枪击事件后，PayPal禁止了Gab使用其支付平台。一位PayPal发言人向Verge记者证实了这个禁令，引用一项反仇恨的政令说：“我们公司勤勉地审查和采取行动。当有网站明确的允许仇恨、暴力或者歧视永久存在时，我们就立刻采取行动。”Verge采访的PayPal说到。

--------------------------------------------以下是原文---------------------------------------------

How Gab Became the Social Media Site Where the Pittsburgh Suspect's Alleged Anti-Semitism Thrived

First responders surround the Tree of Life Synagogue where a shooter opened fire.

Gene J Puskar—AP/REX/Shutterstock

By Abby

Vesoulis

October 27, 2018

The mass shooting during services at a Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday is shining a spotlight on the social media platform Gab after the company admitted the alleged gunman may have used it to post hateful anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant screeds.

Gab, which is headquartered in

Philadelphia, was founded as a “free speech” alternative to Twitter, but has

been branded by some as an echo-chamber for racism and hate, especially after

white supremacists like Richard Spencer began using it. The site had amassed

about 480,000 users, Wired reported in July. In comparison, Twitter

has over 300 million active users on a monthly basis.

While social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter have been proactive in policing racist and anti-Semitic posts, Gab takes a more passive approach.

“We’re very worried about people’s rights,” Utsav Sanduja, Gab’s then-Chief Operating Officer, told Vice earlier this year. “A lot of political

speech is being labelled as hate speech and is simply being wiped off the map.”

The former employee told TIME he thought it was important for sites like Gab to exist.

“Frankly, I would rather have that sort of content above

ground as opposed to being underground,” Sanduja said. “When you censor people and deprive their rights to speak freely,

unfortunately, some of them go criminal, and they go underground.”

That commitment to unfettered free speech has made it popular with many fringe right-wing groups, include the so-called alt-right.

The Anti-Defamation League, an

organization devoted to fighting anti-Semitism, named Gab in a recent report on anti-Semitism in social media in the run-up to the 2018 midterms.

“A staggering expansion of online harassment coincided

with, and arguably fomented, the increase in online anti-Semitism,” it reads. “Fringe Internet communities,

such as 4chan, 8chan, and Gab allowed for the propagation of such ideas, which

quickly spread to Twitter, Reddit, and other mainstream online communities.”

A Gab account registered to Robert Bowers – the same name as the

suspected gunman in Saturday’s shooting at Tree of Life

Congregation –posted and reposted several anti-Semitic statements.

Hours before the shooting, in which 11

people were killed and six wounded, one post said, “HIAS likes to bring

invaders in that kill our people. I can’t sit by and

watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m

going in.”HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, is a nonprofit that seeks to assist refugees.

In a statement sent to TIME, Gab said it suspended

the account under Bowers’name and referred it to federal authorities.

“Shortly after the attack, Gab was alerted to a user

profile of the alleged Tree of Life Synagogue shooter. The account was verified

and matched the name of the alleged shooter’s name,

which was mentioned on police scanners. This person also had accounts on other

social networks,”Gab said.

The statement also said that the site rejects acts of violence.

“Gab unequivocally disavows and condemns all acts of

terrorism and violence. This has always been our policy,”the network said.

Meanwhile, Gab’s Twitter account is boasting about the traffic it received Saturday as news of the shooting spread.

We have been getting1 million hits an hour all day.

— Gab.com🍂 (@getongab) October 27, 2018

“We have been getting 1 million hits an hour all day,” one tweet read.

This is not the first time Gab has been in the news.

In the past, Gab has claimed it was

repeatedly blocked from promoting its app on the Apple and Google Play app

stores. In fact, the site sued Google for refusing to list it.

“Apple is asking Gab to censor ‘objectionable

content’ while allowing this same content to exist in

much higher volumes on every major social channel,” Gab

CEO Andrew Torba told Inc. in 2017. “Our app is being held to

a much higher level of scrutiny than other social-networking apps.”

Additionally, after the shooting, PayPal banned Gab from its payment platform. A PayPal spokesperson confirmed the ban to the Verge,citing a policy that forbids hate and intolerance.“The

company is diligent in performing reviews and taking account actions. When a

site is explicitly allowing the perpetuation of hate, violence or

discriminatory intolerance, we take immediate and decisive action,” the Verge reports PayPal said.