Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Promotes Banned Social Media App That’s Been Called a ‘Magnet for the Alt-Right’

Tucker Carlson Launches in to a Rant Promoting What He Calls ‘Diversity’

Tuesday evening Fox News’ Tucker Carlson talked with the CEO of Gab, helping promote the “free speech” app that has been called “a haven for white nationalists,” and “a magnet for the alt-right and a safe haven for banned Twitter trolls.” 

Gab, which uses as its logo a green frog that’s remarkably similar to Pepe the Frog – which has been co-opted by the so-called “alt-right” as their mascot – has been rejected from Apple’s and Google’s app stores, according to Tech Crunch, for violating hate speech policies – basically for insufficient moderation of hate speech.

Back in March, Mic’s Melanie Ehrenkranz shared her observations of Gab.

“When I joined, I found a barrage of Pepe memes, climate change denial, anti-Muslim rhetoric, sexist jokes and comparisons of Black Lives Matter to terrorist groups,” she wrote, noting that the company behind Gab “is now trying to reach young, diverse progressives.”

“The community’s whole-hog embrace of xenophobia, hate speech and gleefully offensive humor would surely repel anyone who already feels alienated by Twitter,” she adds.

But as ThinkProgress editor and founder Judd Legum wrote Wednesday night, Tucker Carlson managed to not mention the white nationalist and “alt-right” aspects of Gab.

Gab, Legum writes, “has served as a place of refuge for online racists who get kicked out of more mainstream platforms, including Milo Yiannopoulos, Richard B. Spencer, and Ricky Vaughn.”

Ostensibly, Carlson hosted the site’s founder, Andrew Torba, because the Gab app was removed from the Google Play store. Google said it removed the app because Gab was serving as a vehicle “for content that encourages violence and advocates hate against groups of people.” Apple has never accepted the Gab app.

But Tucker’s segment went far beyond support for “free speech.” At the end of the segment, Carlson encouraged his audience to join Gab, calling it “the alternative.”

Legum also posted a few screenshots from posts on Gab:

And here’s how Gab responded to Legum on Twitter:

Above is a clip of Carlson’s interview with Gab founder Andrew Torba, via Media Matters, which also posted a transcript.

“Gab is a ad-free social media platform that operates in a way similar to Twitter,” Tucker Carlson told his Fox News viewers. “It presents itself as a pro-free speech platform so it’s been popular with Milo Yiannopoulos and other figures who have been censored on Twitter, Facebook, and other sites as well people who just believe in free speech.”

“Tech giants can’t abide it though because it’s an uncensored platform so recently Google banned Gab from the Google store, claiming that company was ‘engaging in hate speech’ simply by refusing to censor people who use it.”

Gab founder Torba told Carlson when he founded the company he “believed in free speech for everybody, individual liberty for everybody, and the free flow of information for everybody.”

Which sounds nice, until the 21st century hits you in the face.

Torba calls hate speech policies “arbitrary,” and “stemming right out of Germany and out of the E.U.”

He goes on to complain about getting rejected from the Apple and Google app stores.

Stunningly, Tucker Carlson also launched in to a screed promoting “diversity,” and actually attacking capitalism, saying he’s opposed to monopolies and duopolies. 

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Image: Screenshot via Fox News