From Welcome New Gabbers to the Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting: The Evolution of Gab

TL;DR

This paper traces Gab's evolution as an unmoderated platform fostering hate speech, culminating in a deadly attack, highlighting persistent anti-Semitic language and extreme user behavior over time.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of Gab's language, topics, and user extremity evolution, linking platform dynamics to real-world violence.

Findings

Shooter's posts were among the most anti-Semitic on Gab.

Hundreds of users exhibited even more extreme views.

Anti-Semitic language was consistently present over time.

Abstract

Gab, an online social media platform with very little content moderation, has recently come to prominence as an alt-right community and a haven for hate speech. We document the evolution of Gab since its inception until a Gab user carried out the most deadly attack on the Jewish community in US history. We investigate Gab language use, study how topics evolved over time, and find that the shooters' posts were among the most consistently anti-Semitic on Gab, but that hundreds of other users were even more extreme.