The free-speech-friendly social media platform Gab says it has been refused service by three banks in as many weeks. The platform, popular with those who do not appreciate the speech policing by Big Tech, became especially popular after mainstream social media sites permanently banned President Trump in early January.
The platform registered more than 272 million visits in January, more than the visits recorded by popular news outlets such as TMZ, The Wall Street Journal, and NBC News.
However, its popularity has not gone unnoticed by media outlets who, as with most alternative technology, have smeared the platform for its free speech principles.
These smear campaigns are part of the reason banks are banning Gab. According to Gab’s CEO Andrew Torba, one of the banks said it could no longer be associated with Gab due to “all the bad things the press has written about Gab.”
“Gab follows the law and operates a legal business in the United States,” Torba said, speaking to the National File. “We sell hats, shirts, and a software license to our GabPRO service. We have a community that respects law and order. Yet we have banks and other services banning us left and right.”
He continued to argue that soon, such banks will refuse to serve “churches, businesses, and individuals who refuse the woke orthodoxy of critical theory that has consumed every corner of our culture.”
Gab has also been blacklisted by payment processors such as VISA in recent times, as well as major web hosting platforms. The platform now maintains its own servers in order to stay online.
