Speaking of far-right social media alternatives, Gab the ‘free-speech’ alt-twitter that became so toxic even toxic-trolls stopped using it, is somehow still in existence. However, Gab’s own web host is questioning the number of users it has. A Southern Poverty Law Center report on Friday reveals a huge discrepancy between the number of users Gab claims to have and the number it probably has:
‘In a series of interviews, emails and text messages, Lilac Kapul said Gab’s claims in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings on Dec. 19 and Jan. 28 of more than 835,000 users greatly exceeds the internet infrastructure capacity that London-based Sibyl is providing to Gab. Kapul, a resident of Brisbane, Australia, also said Gab’s user data indicates that most of the active users on the site signed up soon after it was launched in August 2016, raising questions about Gab’s claims of rapid growth. “Based on what they are getting through us services-wise there is no way they have 800,000 users, or it would be very odd if they did,” Kapul told Hatewatch. “I would say they probably have a few thousand or a few tens of thousands. That sounds a lot more believable.”
https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2019/02/14/no-way-gab-has-800000-users-web-host-says
Perhaps the more interesting story in the SPLC piece is not Gab but the shadowy web-hosting service they use called “Sibyl”. Based in London but run apparently by people in their late-teens scattered in different countries, the company also is a web host for a “incel” forum and has even dodgier connections than that.
Camestros Felapton 
4 responses to “Gab is the walking dead now”
It always amazes me that Right-wingers think that they’re so clever with their transparent lies. They must think that everyone is as gullible as they are.
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Look at the facts that they have to work with, though. Would you tell the truth if you had to admit to *that*?
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While this is quite true, it’s entirely possible to create more believable lies yet they don’t seem to be able to do that.
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“””
Perhaps the more interesting story in the SPLC piece is not Gab but the shadowy web-hosting service they use called “Sibyl”. Based in London but run apparently by people in their late-teens scattered in different countries, the company also is a web host for a “incel” forum and has even dodgier connections than that.
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*Perhaps* more interesting :P. The age range is broader than late teens (in both directions), and there’s some interesting and/or problematic clients, but as a whole IMO there’s not all that much interesting about Sibyl, beyond perhaps as an example to counter the typical conceptualisations of young peoples in the workforce and events.
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