Gab, a US-based social media platform known for its commitment to unfettered speech, has taken the step of cutting off access to users in the United Kingdom.
The decision follows an ultimatum from the UK’s communications regulator, Ofcom, demanding data about Gab’s users and internal operations, demands the company categorically rejects as authoritarian.
More: When One Island Demands to Muzzle the World
CEO Andrew Torba made his position clear in a post on X, where he wrote: “Our latest threatening letter from Ofcom ordered us to disclose information about our users and operations. We know where this leads: compelled censorship and British citizens are thrown in jail for ‘hate speech.'” He concluded emphatically: “We refuse to comply with this tyranny.”
Gab’s move comes in direct response to the UK’s controversial Online Safety Act, a sweeping legislative framework introduced under the guise of public safety but widely decried for its broad scope and potential to stifle dissent. The company now displays a block notice to UK-based visitors, citing both legal overreach and a principled stance in defense of free expression.
A notice shown to users in the UK includes the words of John Milton from Areopagitica — “Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.” It also states that after receiving “yet another demand from the UK’s speech police,” Gab chose to sever access entirely.
As a US company with no physical presence in Britain, Gab argues that Ofcom has no legal standing to compel compliance. “To enforce anything in the United States, they’d need to go through a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty request or letters rogatory. No U.S. court is going to enforce a foreign censorship regime. The First Amendment forbids it,” the message reads.
Gab also points to the absurdity of Ofcom trying to punish an American firm that has already blocked UK access. The company portrays this as a clear illustration of how censorship inevitably turns into an attempt to silence rather than protect. “Censorship doesn’t work. It only reveals the truth about the censors,” the statement asserts.
This isn’t an isolated stance. Gab now joins other platforms like BitChute in restricting access from the UK, encouraging other American companies to do the same in protest. The message includes a bold call to reject what it characterizes as authoritarianism masquerading as safety regulation: “The only way to vote against the tyranny of the UK’s present regime is to walk away from it, refuse to comply, and take refuge under the impervious shelter of the First Amendment.”
