Twitter rival Gab faces domain loss over extremist content

Enlarge / Gab insists that its frog mascot is not related to Pepe, the cartoon frog that has been adopted as a mascot for the alt-right. (credit: Yamanaka Tamaki)

It's not easy to host extremist right-wing content on the modern Internet. Gab, a small Twitter rival that bills itself as a bastion of free speech, has received word from its Australian domain registrar that it has five days to find a new registrar, or its domain will be canceled.

The story begins last month, when the neo-Nazi site the Daily Stormer got a similar message from its domain registrar, GoDaddy. The editor of the Daily Stormer had written an article mocking Heather Heyer, who died in protest-related violence in Charlottesville. The Daily Stormer wound up losing its domain name, and two key people associated with the site-editor Andrew Anglin and webmaster Andrew Auernheimer-switched to Gab as their primary way of communicating with the public.

Hosting Anglin and Aurenheimer-as well as other right-wing figures like Internet troll Milo Yiannopoulos-has created headaches for Gab. Days after Anglin became active on Gab, Google kicked Gab out of the Android app store, citing its lax moderation policies.

Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments