[Washington Examiner] Gab, the alternative social media platform that exploded in popularity following the Capitol riot last month and former President Donald Trump’s ban from Facebook and Twitter, went offline Friday evening.The platform’s CEO Andrew Torba said that the company intentionally pulled the social media network offline "out of an abundance of caution" after a small number of accounts began "posting bitcoin wallet spam and related content."
"Because of our quick action, zero bitcoin was sent to any of the addresses posted, and the affected accounts have been secured," the statement said.
The statement added that a "security vulnerability" in the site's codebase had now been fixed, and the site was back online as of midnight Friday.
The initially mysterious disappearance of Gab comes as alternative social media platforms that claim to be open to free speech have attempted to gain traction amid accusations that social media giants such as Facebook and Twitter censor too much content, singling out conservative content for the most moderation.
Both Gab and Parler, another alternative social media platform, exploded in popularity following the Jan. 6 Capitol riots that eventually led to Trump’s ban from Facebook and Twitter. Parler was banned just days later by Google and Apple’s app stores, and it also lost its hosting arrangement with Amazon Web Services, forcing the platform offline while it tried to find a new host.
Friday’s dark period marked the second time that Gab had gone offline in its history, the first being after the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. In that case, Gab’s host pulled the plug on the platform after it was discovered that the suspect had used the network to post anti-Semitic rants and conspiracy theories.
Gab eventually began accepting cryptocurrencies as payment in an attempt to bypass traditional technology companies.