‘Welcome to #GabFam’: Far-right virtual community on Gab

Abstract

With large social media platforms coming under increasing pressure to deplatform far-right users, the Alternative Technology movement (Alt-Tech) emerged as a new digital support infrastructure for the far right. We conduct a qualitative analysis of the prominent Alt-Tech platform Gab, a social networking service primarily modelled on Twitter, to assess the far-right virtual community on the platform. We find Gab’s technological affordances – including its lack of content moderation, culture of anonymity, microblogging architecture and funding model – have fostered an ideologically eclectic far-right community united by fears of persecution at the hands of ‘Big Tech’. We argue that this points to the emergence of a novel techno-social victimology as an axis of far-right virtual community, wherein shared experiences or fears of being deplatformed facilitate a coalescing of assorted far-right tendencies online.

Understanding the Use of the Term “Weaponized Autism” in An Alt-Right Social Media Platform

“…They dont wanna deal with this level of autism Ultimately, Gab creates an "echo chamber" that shapes users, including autistic users. Gab is specifically designed for people to express extreme views in a forum where it will not be challenged (Jasser et al, 2021). Additionally, Gab discourse has been found to be driven by "super participants" who work to ensure dissenting / divergent views are discouraged (Zhou et al, 2019).…”

“…It proclaims itself to be "a social network that champions free speech, individual liberty and the free flow of information online" (Gab.com, 2021). It has been widely criticized by hate watch groups, journalists, and researchers as being a harbor for extremist and hate-based discourse (Donovan et al, 2018;Jasser et al, 2021). Jasser and colleagues (Jasser et al, 2021) conducted an analysis of Gab posts and found a high frequency of hate speech among users posting public messages, most commonly communicating anti-left, anti-Semitic, misogynistic, racist, and xenophobic sentiments.…”

“…It has been widely criticized by hate watch groups, journalists, and researchers as being a harbor for extremist and hate-based discourse (Donovan et al, 2018;Jasser et al, 2021). Jasser and colleagues (Jasser et al, 2021) conducted an analysis of Gab posts and found a high frequency of hate speech among users posting public messages, most commonly communicating anti-left, anti-Semitic, misogynistic, racist, and xenophobic sentiments. Gab is described as a small social media platform that combines features and functions of Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit, but is distinct from these mainstream platforms in that it offers almost no content moderation (Donovan et al, 2018;Jasser et al, 2021).…”

“…Jasser and colleagues (Jasser et al, 2021) conducted an analysis of Gab posts and found a high frequency of hate speech among users posting public messages, most commonly communicating anti-left, anti-Semitic, misogynistic, racist, and xenophobic sentiments. Gab is described as a small social media platform that combines features and functions of Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit, but is distinct from these mainstream platforms in that it offers almost no content moderation (Donovan et al, 2018;Jasser et al, 2021). This has made Gab a haven for social media users who have been banned from mainstream platforms for contravention of terms of service moderation.…”

“…The term "weaponized autism" might also be understood as an extension of the broader use of militarized speech in forums, offered with a logic that can be very convincing, especially when there are no counter balancing arguments offered (Darmstadt et al, 2019). Posters whose content expresses white nationalist sentiments are often encouraged and praised; posters who express dissent are harshly criticized or worse, ignored (Jasser et al, 2021). Patterns of acceptance and rejection within discourse always have the power to shape people (Crowe, 2005).…”