Gab Has a ‘Porn Bot’ Problem. And Its CEO Blames MAGA Rivals.
Far-right social media platform Gab, no stranger to countless technical failures, now claims to have a persistent and severe “porn bot” problem. And rival MAGA websites are to blame, Gab’s founder and chief executive Andrew Torba suggested this week.
Over the weekend, the far-right tech entrepreneur claimed Gab’s backend system was under an alleged cyberattack. The social platform, which emerged as a Twitter alternative for far-right users including neo-Nazis, was hit hard by a wave of alleged “porn bots,” Torba declared. “The porn bots stop right now. All new Gab accounts must now be manually approved by our team until further notice,” he further fumed in a late Saturday night post.
At one point, Torba wrote that he had stayed up until 3 a.m. to “stop these porn bots.” (It is unclear whether such a cyberattack took place or what specific “bots” the Gab CEO was referring to but a casual search of the platform does show numerous accounts advertising “escort” services.)
Ultimately, Torba suggested the alleged “porn bots” siege to be a “sophisticated attack” against his platform, spearheaded by none other than former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform and/or the Canadian right-wing YouTube wannabe Rumble.
“This is the most sophisticated attack we have seen in five years, and the timing of it is incredibly interesting given that Truth Social and Rumble both raised a boatload of cash this week from hedge funds to compete with Gab,” he wrote.
Why MAGA Social Media Is a Hacker’s Wet Dream
While Torba provided no evidence to support his claims of a rival attacking his platform with an army of supposed “porn bots,” the ordeal did follow the news that Trump’s yet-to-be-launched platform and Rumble will share a backend infrastructure.
Representatives for Truth Social, Gab, and Rumble did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment on this story.
Gab’s fight against alleged “porn bots” somehow isn’t an entirely new phenomenon. Back in 2019, The Daily Beast reported the site was beset by mounting issues, including a poorly designed search function, “neo-Nazis posting racist memes,” and, of course, “member rolls riddled with porn bots.”
At that time, Torba blamed a “deep state” plot, but now it seems he believes the architects of his platform’s woes are his own MAGA social-media rivals.
“Trump and Rumble announce that they have raised 1.4 billion dollars, and all of a sudden Gab, the leading alt tech platform, gets slammed from every angle with porn and spambots,” Torba floated in another post over the weekend. “Really makes you think.”
—With additional reporting by Adam Rawnsley.
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