Seattle-area company helps Gab peripheral site return after Pittsburgh synagogue shootings



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The Pittsburgh gun suspect, Robert Bowers, spread anti-Semitic hatred on the Gab social media site and wrote a message shortly before the synagogue massacre. Later, Gab lost its web hosting platform, but found a new host on Epik.com, based in Sammamish.

Mike Baker

The Gab social media site, which has become a banned media on the Internet as a result of the arrest of one of its racist users during a shooting in a Pittsburgh synagogue, is again in online through the help of a Seattle based web company.

Gab announced his return Sunday afternoon by writing: "We can not stop, we can not stop. Free Speech LIVES! He congratulated his new hosting company, Epik.com, created in 2009 and based in Sammamish.

The Pittsburgh gunman, Robert Bowers, had spread anti-Semitic hatred on Gab and wrote on the site shortly before the shooting of the synagogue, which had killed 11 people, that he "entered". Bowers was one of the many extreme right-wing extremists who had found the house in Gab. After the shooting, the GoDaddy hosting platform asked Gab to find another provider, claiming that GoDaddy had investigated and "uncovered numerous examples of content on the site that promotes and encourages violence at home. against people ".

Gab said he was renouncing violence and had collaborated with law enforcement officials as a result of the shooting while seeking to defend freedom of expression online.

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Epik's founder and CEO, Rob Monster, echoed this sentiment in a brief interview with The Seattle Times on Sunday. Monster compared his company to a utility provider and said he supported freedom of expression. He declined to discuss the issue of whether there would be enough questionable content for his company to cut links with a website, but he congratulated Gab operators and said he thought that they would organize the site appropriately.

"I believe the guys on the site are vigilant," said Monster.

Even before the shooting in Pittsburgh, Gab had angered and paid attention to the types of publications and site users. In 2016, Gab's founder, Andrew Torba, said the company was seeing a growing user base as Twitter cracked down on racist and hostile users on its site.

Faced with criticism over the hateful content of his site, Gab pointed to other types of users and publications on the platform. As the site returned on Sunday, Torba wrote, "We only want to see positivity, peace, and love. It's time to show the world that we have the best community on the Internet. "

In response to this message, a person with a user name containing a racist term for African Americans asked Torba to "name the Jews who are trying to silence us".

Gab has implemented guidelines for users, prohibiting threats, terrorism, illegal pornography and the publication of confidential information.

Founded in 2009, Epik presents itself as "the leading provider of multi-service and all-inclusive hosting and registration services." By the end of 2016, the company had announced revenue growth of 80% in 2015 and continued rapid growth. in 2016. He was also exploring international expansion.

Monster declined to say whether he had witnessed customer movements to or from his platform since Gab announced that Epik would provide assistance. Monster said its decision to host Gab "was not motivated by financial incentives."

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