Gab.ai is a social network that was created specifically for those with a far right or ‘alt right’ position. It was created to give these people a place where they could interact freely since many big name people of this persuasion such as Milo Yiannopoulos have had their Twitter and other social media accounts suspended in the past.
The site has been characterized as a ‘digital safe space for the far right’ in the past, and has also been accused of being a place where racists and others can get together for unrestricted hate speech. Many people consider these neo-nazi and KKK type network sites.
When the social network created a mobile app for its users, however, they ran into some trouble. The app was not allowed on Apple’s App store at all, and while it was initially approved in May to be in the Google Play store, it has now been removed.
Gab is now suing Google because they claim that the company is using their market power to censor positions that they don’t agree with. It may also be argued that Google is limiting competition for its own social network, Google+.
Google has responded to the lawsuit saying, “This claim is baseless and we’re happy to defend our decision in court if need be. In order to be on the Play Store, social networking apps need to demonstrate a sufficient level of moderation, including for content that encourages violence and advocates hate against groups of people. This is a long-standing rule and clearly stated in our developer policies. This developer is welcome to appeal the suspension if they’ve addressed the policy violations and are compliant with our Developer Program Policies.”
There is no court date or other proceedings scheduled yet, nor any word on what type of damages Gab is seeking (other than to be allowed in the Play Store.
