Tired of Twitter censorship? Gab claims to offer an alternative

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 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 "Gab's mission is to put people and free speech first. We believe that the only valid form of censorship is an individual's own choice to opt-out. Gab empowers users to filter and remove unwanted followers, words, phrases, and topics they do not want to see in their feeds." That doesn't mean it's a "virtual wild west" out there, however. "We do take steps to protect ourselves and our users from illegal activity, spam, and abuse," the guideline continues. "By signing up for Gab, all users agree to adhere to the policies (as outlined). Failure to comply will result in sanctions as explained in our How We Enforce Our Guidelines section." The guidelines go on to mention pornography (legal and illegal), copyright, private information and other such topics as reasons for the site's operators to virtually slap you.

---

"Gab's policy is to follow all applicable laws in The United States of America, the Constitution and the Supreme Court's rulings on the First Amendment. We use the Court's rulings, precedents and judgments as our guiding principles for protecting and empowering free speech and expression. You may not use our service for any unlawful purposes or illegal activities," the site continues. Well, there goes all the fun! I believe the site operators must be Trump supporters, or at least have an urge to troll the left-wing competition like the president does, because its logo and "favicon" (the little picture that appears on your browser tab or window) just happens to be Pepe the frog, the little green critter that seems to show up on many other Trump-friendly sites, images, etc.. Covfefe! And according to the Gabsters, they aren't just in it to make huge profits off of the backs of the people (not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that in a free market). They eschew ads, depending instead on the kindness of strangers. "Gab can only be ad-free through your contributions. Your generosity helps us fight for a free and open internet, worldwide," their website claims. There's also an upgraded Gab service, called GabPro. "GabPro helps us keep Gab ad-free and operational for hundreds of thousands of people around the world," they say. "With an optional upgrade to GabPro you'll unlock additional features and tools to enhance your Gab experience and help make Gab possible for everyone." In other words, pony up some lucre and unlock more features while helping finance the service to keep it going. And, helpfully, they have a link to a PayPal page where you can ante up. A happy coincidence, I'm sure.

---

Support Canada Free Press

---

GabPro features listed on the website include the ability to create groups and/or lists, bookmark and save posts and even make some money of your own – as it says, "Get rewarded for your content with tips and paid subscriptions." The site is organized into groups and topics, via menus on the left side of the page. Thursday, June 7th had topics such as D-Day, News and Politics and (ugh) Stanley Cup Playoffs – and lots more. Gab doesn't seem nearly as busy as Twitter does, from my limited visiting of both social media sites, but this could be because fewer people have undoubtedly heard of Gab, whereas Twitter is the evil elephant in the room. So, if you're looking for an alternative to Twitter, you may want to check out Gab. There are also alternatives to Facebook out there, a surprising number of them. I don't have room to go into them all here, but a website company called 1and1.com has a list of alternative sites that I'd never heard of (besides the usual Reddit, Instagram and the like), including Diaspora, Ello, EyeEm, Path and Vero. The site also gives a brief description of these sites that you might find quite handy. If I weren't allergic to social media, I might even check some of them out. And, of course, your mileage may vary. But it's nice to see the free market opening up opportunities for other voices than those the lefty powers that be deem acceptable. After all, free speech means exactly what it purports to mean.