Most people can’t can’t get themselves far enough away from any association with Gab, the social networking site much loved by the alt-right and neo-Nazis. Gab’s biggest claim to fame is its connection with Robert Bowers, a former user on the site, who murdered 11 people and injured six others in a Pittsburgh synagogue.
How and why do violent racism and hate breed on Gab? The site operates on a “free speech” platform, where things like hate speech (that are banned on sites like Facebook and Twitter) are allowed.
After the Pittsburgh massacre, Gab.com’s internet hosting service, GoDaddy, asked the site to move off its platform. Who picked it up? Rob Monster, a devout Christian, registered Gab’s domain in November and got it back online.
But why?
Monster, the founder and CEO of the domain registrar Epik, thinks it comes down to free speech and—get this—bringing people together. Epik, founded in 2009, two years after Monster left a market research company, has called itself “the Swiss Bank of Domains.” Meaning … what, exactly? Basically, it’s a “neutral” company, meaning that it’ll take any customer’s money.
Including, apparently, money from white supremacists.
In an age when people are clamoring to silence violent hate (including limiting the platforms on which such dialogue can flourish), Monster is willing to stand up for the Nazi team. In spite of this, he swears up and down that he isn’t anti-Semitic or a white supremacist. In a blog on Epik last month he wrote, “I have many Jewish friends, and have been called ‘ Mensch ’ many times,” which is … really something.
Monster claims he wasn’t familiar with Gab before the Pittsburgh massacre. But since taking it on, he’s become a frequent poster, the Huffington Post reports. And his posts are feeding right into dangerous rhetoric and conspiracy theories. In November, Monster posted on Gab, stating, “Are there a lot of ‘Jewish’ people who are in a position of power or influence and favor other ‘Jewish’ people, Ashkenazi, or otherwise? Sure. Do I think God is impressed by that? No, I do not.”
When one user expressed concern that Epik had two Jewish board members, Monster apparently reassured them that “having a Jewish person on Epik’s board may be somewhat helping with keeping certain forces at bay.”
Monster may hope he and his company come across as “neutral,” but taking funds and giving space for dangerous hate speech to breed is far from neutral. His comments and activities on the site speak for themselves at this point.