[lgleason]

Irregardless of what you think of Gab etc.. Unless the platform is being used for illegal activity and or it is engaging in something that breaks the law these service providers can and should be treated like the phone company. In other words the phone company does not turn off your phone because you are a nazi, racist etc.. Also, and this is an important distinction, there has been no established link between the shooters activity on Gab and what he did. IE: it does not appear that he collaborated with others on it to plan things etc. on the service... and if he had, odds are he probably also used other providers more extensively such as gmail etc..

Hosting providers policing things like this is akin to vigilante justice vs letting it go through the legal system where there is actually due process for everybody, not just the people that the mod likes.

[daxterspeed]

Setting up your own hosting provider (read: servers) might be a bit of a hassle, but it's nothing compared to setting up your own telephone network. Gab is free to purchase their own servers and provide the necessary facilities.

[legostormtroopr]

Sure, you don't need shared hosting, just setup your own servers. Until someone kicks you out of there server space...

Sure, you don't need shared server space, just setup your own co-location facility. Until someone decides not to give you backhaul...

Or until someone decides they won't provide you with DNS. Or DDoS protection. Or Payment gateway. Or... or... or...

The reality we are facing is that some political opinions (even relatively benign ones) aren't allowed access to the same resources as others.

Gab is benign, they started based on people getting kicked off Twitter - because you don't need Twitter, just start your own. So they did. And now they find themselves being booted around, because of virtue signalling tech companies.

[anarazel]

> Gab is benign, they started based on people getting kicked off Twitter

Read the official twitter profile (what they write and reteweet). And then tell me again that they're not explicitly reaching for the racist fringe.