Gab's Andrew Torba on Why Bitcoin Is Free Speech Money

Mr Obnoxious - Un pódcast de Peter McCormack

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Interview location: Skype
Interview date: Thursday 17th Jan, 2018
Company: Gab.com
Role: CEO

The Silk Road remains one of the most important Bitcoin projects. The website provided a clear use case for Bitcoin, allowing for the buying and selling of goods outside of government regulations.

Outside of price speculation and trading, there are currently few projects which utilise the full potential within the design of Bitcoin: censorship resistant money. Gab.com is a site which is not only making use of Bitcoin in this way, but it has to for survival.

In the divisive world of free speech, Gab.com has created a platform which does not censor views, opinions and content which some people find tasteless, hateful and/or offensive. Andrew Torba, the CEO of Gab believes that this is an essential right in a world where social media giants can control what content is and isn’t allowed.

There are many examples of censorship across these platforms, from Google restricting search results to Alex Jones universal removal from almost every social media and content platform. Whatever you think of Alex Jones, whether you find his views and opinions offensive, censorship across these platforms and the role that social media companies play in determining what content is permissible is a hotly debated subject.

I invited Andrew onto the podcast to discuss free speech, censorship and understand how the company has been affected by their own deplatforming experiences. We also discuss how Gab.com is using Bitcoin to fund their business and thus why Bitcoin is free speech money.

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Timestamps:

00.04.56: Intro and welcome
00.05.40: Andrew’a background and background to Gab.com
00.10.50: What the first amendment is and why it is so important
00.14.39: The relevance of taste to free speech
00.16.00: The difference between Gab.com and sites such as Reddit and Twitter
00.18.25: Censorship of Gab.com
00.21.01: Censorship coordination in Silicon Valley
00.22.35: Hate speech laws
00.26.00: The far right
00.28.41: Liberal policies (socialism and communism)
00.32.01: Why content should not be censored
00.36.00: Gab.com launch and deplatforming
00.43.37: Gab.com and Bitcoin
00.47.57: Gab.com as an example of why Bitcoin exists
00.52.39: Gab.com promoting Bitcoin
00.56.30: Privacy
01.00.20: Status of Gab.com
01.01.46: How to connect with Gab.com

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Helpful Links:

Connect with Andrew:
- On Gab.com
- On Crunchbase

Connect with Gab.com:
- Website: https://gab.com/
- On Twitter

Articles about Gab.com:
- Right-wing social network Gab.com goes offline after Pittsburgh synagogue shooting
- Gab is back online after being banned by GoDaddy, PayPal, and more
- What is Gab, the site used by Pittsburgh synagogue shooting suspect?
- Gab, the social network popular with the far right, has temporarily shut down after GoDaddy pulled its support
- Inside Gab, the alt-right's social media network that is awash with antisemitism
- Why Epik welcomed Gab.com
- PayPal Bans Social Network Gab.com After Synagogue Attacker Revealed As User

Articles about online censorship:
- Taibbi: Censorship Does Not End Well
- Jordan Peterson and Dave Rubin to Leave Patreon in Protest of Censorship
- Google's Dangerous Drift Toward Censorship
- Justice Department warns tech companies as Facebook and Twitter defend themselves in Congress
- Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News
- Tech giants’ evil censorship plan was a coordinated, premeditated attack on America’s liberties

Mentioned in the interview:
- Arab Spring Twitter revolution
- Communism
- Socialism
- Marxism
- Pittsburgh synagogue shooting
- 51% attack on Ethereum Classic
- Joule - Lightning Browser Extension

Other relevant WBD podcasts:
- WBD056: Alex Gladstein on Why Bitcoin Matters for Freedom
- WBD049: Coin Center's Peter Van Valkenburg on Preserving the Freedom to Innovate with Public Blockchains
- WBD040: Personal Privacy and Safety in the Surveillance Age with Jameson Lopp
- WBD027: The Supreme Courts Denial of Ross Ulbricht's Petition with Lyn Ulbricht
- WBD010: Losing Your Son to the Prison System - The Silk Road and Ross Ulbricht with Lyn Ulbricht

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