From Silicon Valley elite to social media hate: The radicalization that led to Gab

Gab has become the most visible of a collection of services catering to people mainstream companies such as Twitter and Facebook have rejected as too hateful, extreme or threatening in their posts as part of a crackdown on extremism. The Pittsburgh tragedy has made Gab's creator, Andrew Torba, a key voice in growing debates over free expression and hate speech — and whether technology companies are making the right decisions over whose voices get heard and whose get muted. Gab’s Twitter feed — which Torba has acknowledged often writing himself — this week linked to an anonymously written blog post calling mainstream journalists “the Satanic mafia.” His dark turn is now an indelible part of the history of online radicalism in the United States. In a series of emails with the Washington Post, Torba described his disenchantment with Silicon Valley.