What is Gab? A Bastion of Free Speech or an Alt-Right Echo Chamber? (1802.05287v2)

Abstract: Over the past few years, a number of new "fringe" communities, like 4chan or certain subreddits, have gained traction on the Web at a rapid pace. However, more often than not, little is known about how they evolve or what kind of activities they attract, despite recent research has shown that they influence how false information reaches mainstream communities. This motivates the need to monitor these communities and analyze their impact on the Web's information ecosystem. In August 2016, a new social network called Gab was created as an alternative to Twitter. It positions itself as putting "people and free speech first'", welcoming users banned or suspended from other social networks. In this paper, we provide, to the best of our knowledge, the first characterization of Gab. We collect and analyze 22M posts produced by 336K users between August 2016 and January 2018, finding that Gab is predominantly used for the dissemination and discussion of news and world events, and that it attracts alt-right users, conspiracy theorists, and other trolls. We also measure the prevalence of hate speech on the platform, finding it to be much higher than Twitter, but lower than 4chan's Politically Incorrect board.

Analysis of Gab as an Information Ecosystem Player

The paper "What is Gab? A Bastion of Free Speech or an Alt-Right Echo Chamber?" offers a thorough investigation into Gab, a social media platform emerging in response to perceived censorship on mainstream social networks. The authors, Zannettou et al., deliver the first extensive characterization of Gab by analyzing a corpus of 22 million posts from 336,000 users, gathered from August 2016 to January 2018. This research is crucial as it highlights Gab’s peculiar position at the intersection of mainstream and fringe digital communities, providing significant insights into its user base and the content prevalent on the platform.

Methodological Approach

The authors employ a rigorous data collection and analysis process, leveraging Gab's API to capture user-generated content, metadata, and the network of followers and followings. By employing these data points, they assemble a holistic picture of the platform's operation, user interactions, and predominant themes.

Their methods include ranking users based on follower counts, account scores, and PageRank within the followers/followings network. This triangulation of metrics allows a nuanced understanding of user popularity and influence. Furthermore, the authors analyze user descriptions, posting behaviors, and content characteristics through the lens of hashtags, topic and category participation, and URL usage. The use of Hatebase to identify instances of hate speech informs an assessment of Gab's content moderation practices and the prevalence of harmful rhetoric.

Key Findings

The paper identifies several key features of the Gab platform:

1. User Base Characteristics: Gab attracts a diverse spectrum of users including notable alt-right figures, conspiracy theorists, and trolls, many migrating from platforms like Twitter and 4chan. A relatively small proportion of users (20%) personalize their profile descriptions, often referencing themes of nationalism and conservatism.
2. Content Analysis: The platform primarily serves as a medium for news dissemination and political discourse, with topics and categories frequently aligned with alt-right and nationalist ideologies. Notably, Gab has been employed for discussions marked with conspiracy theories such as "Pizzagate."
3. Hate Speech Prevalence: The analysis finds that 5.4% of posts contain hate speech, a proportion higher than Twitter but below levels observed on 4chan's /pol/ board. This finding suggests Gab’s dual role as a community claiming to support free speech while being utilized for questionable content expression.
4. Temporal Patterns: Gab's posting activity exhibits a correlation with significant socio-political events, particularly those impacting or involving nationalist movements. Noteworthy is the platform's reaction to events tied to Donald Trump's presidency and alt-right mobilizations, reflecting its tight alignment with these narratives.

Implications and Future Directions

The implications of these findings are multi-layered, affecting both the perception and regulatory considerations of emergent platforms like Gab. The paper suggests that Gab serves as a potential incubator for alt-right and fringe online communities, fostering the diffusion of extremist content that may eventually permeate larger social media spaces. The lopsided ecosystem underscores the need for deeper understanding and potentially proactive content moderation policies across digital platforms to curb the proliferation of hate speech and misinformation.

The paper invites further exploration into how fringe platforms like Gab impact broader societal narratives and mobilization efforts. Future research may expand upon the transnational reach of such platforms, the longevity of user engagement, and their evolving interaction with mainstream narratives.

In conclusion, the paper by Zannettou et al. provides a comprehensive and analytically rigorous portrayal of Gab, contributing valuable insights to the discourse on the dynamics of online fringe communities and their intersection with global digital information flows.