TECH

Google employees at its European headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, join others from around the world walking out of their offices in protest over claims of sexual harassment, gender inequality and systemic racism at the tech giant. (Photo by Niall Carson/PA Images via Getty Images)

Google Employees Stage Global Walkout Over Payouts To Alleged Sexual Harassers

World Wide Web founder Tim Berners-Lee speaks during an interview ahead of a speech at the Mozilla Festival 2018 in London, Britain October 27, 2018. Picture taken October 27, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

Inventor Of World Wide Web Says Tech Giants May Have To Be Split Up

Workers stand outside the Google offices after walking out as part of a global protest over workplace issues, in London, Britain, November 1, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville

Google Walkout To Protest Harassment Kicks Off

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 25: Activist Gavin McInnes takes part in an Alt Right protest of Muslim Activist Linda Sarsour on May 25, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

Facebook Bans Content Linked To Proud Boys, Gavin McInnes

Andrew Torba, left, and Robert Bowers

Who Is Gab Founder Andrew Torba?

Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks during an event to announce new products Tuesday Oct. 30, 2018, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Apple Gives iPads And Macs A Much-Needed Refresh

The mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue has drawn scrutiny on the Gab social media site after the suspect was found to have used it to express anti-Semitic views. The website, Gab.com, said it suspended his account and contacted the authorities after the arrest but it was not enough to stop internet services from cutting ties with it. The website, which is popular with white nationalists and members of the so-called alt-right, said on Saturday night it was being forced offline following the attack that left 11 people dead. It said its hosting provider Joyent would be suspending its services as of Monday morning, while PayPal has also reportedly banned the site. "Gab will likely be down for weeks because of this," the site said on its Twitter account. What is Gab? | The alt-right's answer to Twitter "We will continue to fight for free expression and individual liberty online for all people. Big tech can not stop us. The mainstream media can not stop us. The People will defend freedom against tyranny as they always have and always will," it tweeted. The website went offline temporarily on Saturday night, after which it tweeted: "We spent the past hour backing up everything in light of our hosting provider pulling service on Monday." Shortly before bursting into the Tree of Life Congregation yeling "all Jews must die", the suspect Robert Bowers posted his final message on Gab. “I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in,” he said. Robert Bowers, the suspect of the attack at the Tree of Life synagogue during a baby naming ceremony in Pittsburgh, Pensylvania Credit: AFP Bowers, who was in fair condition at a hospital after being shot several times by police, was charged late on Saturday with 29 federal counts, including hate crimes and weapons offences. The 46-year-old appeared to be the author of a recent rash of violently anti-Semitic posts on the controversial social networking website, where conspiracy theories are common. Gab had earlier released a statement saying it had "zero tolerance" for violence or terrorism and was "saddened and disgusted by the news" from Pittsburgh. It said in a post that after learning of the attack, it had matched the name of the alleged shooter to one of its account holders. It then took down the Bowers account and immediately contacted the FBI, adding: "We will do everything in our power to work with law enforcement to see that justice is served." Gab launched in 2016 as a "free-speech" alternative to Twitter. Its founder, Andrew Torba, said existing sites like Twitter and Facebook have a left-leaning monopoly on social media. It allows users to read and write unfiltered messages of up to 300 characters, called "gabs". Andrew Torba, founder of Gab Credit: Facebook The home page describes the platform as "a social network that champions free speech, individual liberty and the free flow of information online. All are welcome." Gab is a popular gathering place for alt-right activists and white nationalists whose views are unwelcome or banned on other social media platforms. Early members included the right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos and Andrew Anglin, the founder of the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer website. Other well known users have included controversial media personalities Alex Jones and Carl Benjamin. Apple blocked the app from its App store in 2016, citing pornographic content, and later, hate speech. Google blocked the app from its Google Play store for hate speech, which brought a law suit from Gab that was eventually dropped. An investigation by The Telegraph in August found dozens of pages of racist and anti-Semitic material on the website, which was being hosted by Microsoft at the time. “Microsoft terminated its Azure agreement with Gab last month. The Gab.com and Gab.ai websites are no longer hosted on Azure,” a Microsoft spokesperson told the Telegraph after the shooting. Gab and hate speech | Whose responsibility is it? One post, in Gab’s “Brexit” group, displays a rifle with the caption “wh--- and ni---- repellent". Another, which was posted repeatedly over the course of several days, claims that Jewish people were responsible for “all labour and sex slavery” and is illustrated by a cartoon of an old man with a large nose. When approached by the Telegraph at the time, a Gab spokesman said: “We don’t do interviews with fake news outlets that employ sophist political activists pretending to be journalists. Figure it out for yourself.” Moments later the official Gab account posted a picture of a Gladiator’s arena on Twitter, writing: “Back in the day they would have just thrown dishonest journalists in here with the gladiators. "They would have lasted all of four seconds.”

Gab, Social Network Favored By The Far-Right, Goes Offline After Synagogue Shooting

For some Twitch users, attending TwitchCon felt like too great a risk to take this year.

'Lax' Security At TwitchCon Causes Anxiety In Wake Of Deadly Shooting

Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks during a data privacy conference at the European Parliament in Brussels, Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Tim Cook Warns That Personal Data Is Being 'Weaponized Against Us'

In this photo taken Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff speaks at a SPUR luncheon in San Francisco. Benioff spoke about the responsibility of businesses and leaders to their local communities, including solving the homelessness crisis in San Francisco and beyond. Benioff supports a measure on San Francisco's Nov. 6 ballot would levy an extra tax on hundreds of the city's wealthiest companies to raise $300 million for homelessness and mental health services. SPUR is is a non-profit research, education, and advocacy organization focused on issues of planning and governance in San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Tech CEO Says His Own Industry Is To Blame For Rampant Inequality

By Lydia O'Connor

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JANUARY 09: Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey speaks during a press event at CES 2019 at the Aria Resort

Jack Dorsey Has No Clue What He Wants

By Ashley Feinberg

The French headquarters of Microsoft Corp. in Issy-les-Moulineaux, outside Paris, Saturday April 15, 2017. Microsoft says the recent dump of purported National Security Agency spying tools doesn't affect up-to-date users of Windows, puncturing claims that the digital arsenal was poised to create chaos across the internet. (AP Photo/Raphael Satter)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Microsoft Will Loan Up To $500 Million To Address Seattle's Housing Crisis

'Istanbul, Turkey - December 4, 2011: Youtube Homepage Close-up on LCD Screen, Chrome Web Browser. YouTube is a largest and most visited video-sharing website, has founded in February 14, 2005.'

TARIK KIZILKAYA via Getty Images

YouTube Bans Dangerous Pranks And Stunts In Wake Of 'Bird Box' Challenge

By Nina Golgowski

In this June 14, 2018, photo an Amazon Echo is displayed in New York. Big banks and financial companies have started to offer banking through virtual assistants, Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and Google’s Assistant, in a way that will allow customers to check their balances, pay bills and, in the near future, send money just with their voice. Regional banking giant U.S. Bank is the first bank to be on all three services, Alexa, Siri and Assistant. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Amazon's Alexa Attempts To Fact-Check Tech Executive During CES Demonstration

Bloomberg Best of the Year 2018: Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer and founder of Facebook Inc., listens during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, April 11, 2018. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Bloomberg via Getty Images

Mark Zuckerberg Says Facebook Can't Stop All Election Interference

Instagram

Instagram Accidentally Changed How You Scroll And People On Twitter Were Upset

By Jenna Amatulli

In this June 14, 2018, photo an Amazon Echo is displayed in New York. Big banks and financial companies have started to offer banking through virtual assistants, Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and Google’s Assistant, in a way that will allow customers to check their balances, pay bills and, in the near future, send money just with their voice. Regional banking giant U.S. Bank is the first bank to be on all three services, Alexa, Siri and Assistant. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Amazon Gives Access To 1,700 Alexa Audio Home Files To The Wrong Guy

By Mary Papenfuss

Bloomberg Best of the Year 2018: Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer and founder of Facebook Inc., listens during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, April 11, 2018. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Bloomberg via Getty Images

Here's What You Need To Know About Facebook's Colossally Bad Year

Google Search 2018

Meghan Markle Tops Google's Global Trending Charts For 2018

Donald Trump and Barack Obama

AP; MPI10/MediaPunch/IPX

Barack Obama Beats Donald Trump In Twitter 2018 Showdown

Elon Musk arrives to speak at Boring Company community meeting in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California, U.S. May 17, 2018. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Lucy Nicholson / Reuters

Elon Musk Ducks Out Of One Los Angeles Tunnel But Pursues Another

FILE- This Feb. 5, 2007 file photo shows Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif. Zuckerberg’s boyish appearance, even today, is a reminder of just how young he was when he created what would become the world’s biggest social network, back in his dorm room at Harvard. “I didn't know anything about building a company or global internet service,” he wrote in January 2018. “Over the years I've made almost every mistake you can imagine.” (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

Associated Press

Facebook Has Had A Very Bad Week. Again.

By Lydia O'Connor

FILE - In this Feb. 7, 2018 file photo, a neon sign hanging in the window of Healthy Harvest Indoor Gardening in Hillsboro, Ore., shows that the business accepts bitcoin as payment. A raft of recent cyber-security firms and governments now cite the rising trend of ‘crypto-jacking’ _ in which devices are infected with invisible malicious cryptocurrency mining software that uses the computing power of victims’ devices to mine virtual currency _ as the main cyber security threat to businesses and consumers worldwide. (AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus, File)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Ohio Becomes First U.S. State To Allow Businesses To Pay Taxes With Bitcoin

By Dominique Mosbergen

SOPA Images via Getty Images

Facebook Admits To Targeting Billionaire George Soros In PR Attack

By Carla Herreria

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 5: Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg looks on during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing concerning foreign influence operations' use of social media platforms, on Capitol Hill, September 5, 2018 in Washington, DC. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg faced questions about how foreign operatives use their platforms in attempts to influence and manipulate public opinion. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Facebook Executive Sheryl Sandberg Calls Explosive NYT Report 'Simply Untrue'

Foto tomada el 29 de mayo del 2018 del filántropo multimillonario George Soros en un evento en París. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Facebook Reportedly Paid For Smear Campaign Against George Soros

Amazon Announces New Headquarters In Virginia, New York City

Gab.com, the self-described "free speech social media platform" popular with

Gab, Social Network Favored By The Far Right, Goes Back Online

Photo by Victoria Heath on Unsplash

Where Kids Find Hate Online -- And Tips For How To Handle It

By Common Sense Media, Editorial Partner