In a message posted June 7, 2023, Andrew Torba, founder and CEO of the extremist-adjacent social media platform Gab, claimed that the French government had reached out to him regarding a French profile posting hate speech on the platform. Torba's post said that Gab's response would be "the same as always" – that as a U.S.-based company, it does not "recognize or follow" foreign countries' hate speech laws.
The French government's efforts come at the same time as a similar effort from the government of Germany, which has been attempting to crack down on content on Gab which contravenes German law. Torba has similarly rejected the requests of the German government. The MEMRI DTTM project also produced a report on German-language content on Gab and Torba's refusal of requests from the German government.[1]
Gab, an online safe haven for extremist content, is used by neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups from around the world to disseminate their hate content. Despite a significant effort to limit the impact of French groups online, many still use Gab freely, thanks to the protections afforded to them by the platform's founder.
A leading French neo-Nazi website is replete with unabashed antisemitic and racist content, and encourages antisemitic acts. For example, it recently provided an antisemitic leaflet for downloading, printing, and distribution across France.
The site, which has been operating for years, changes its URL regularly to evade shutdown. In 2018, it was blocked by court decision for violent content, at the request of the Paris prosecutor. Nine access providers, including Orange, SFR (Altice Group, also owner of BFMTV), Free and Bouygues Télécom, were ordered to block access to it. It is suspected that the site's main administrator is a Frenchman reportedly residing in Japan, who has multiple convictions and several search warrants against him.
However, the site's content can still be accessed via Gab. A number of Gab accounts enable users to connect to it by regularly posting updated links to its articles. Additionally, several French racist and antisemitic accounts operate freely on Gab in violation of French laws banning racism and antisemitism.
The following report highlights examples of French accounts on Gab that disseminate content from the banned website along with other racist and antisemitic content.
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One such French neo-Nazi Gab account uses a picture of Hitler as its profile picture. In addition to trafficking in antisemitic tropes, it appears to also be racist toward other groups, as can be seen in the following recent posts.
The user posted a graphic of a figure holding the severed head of Hedi, a 22-year-old Marseille man who allegedly suffered head trauma as a result of a Flash-Ball projectile used by police and of police brutality during the July 2023 unrest in the country. The figure holding up Hedi's head is saying, "Fatality, dirty Arab."
Another post included two photos of Hedi along with a photo of a children's card game called "Find the Seven Differences" and another of a Flash-Ball projectile launcher used by riot police. The name of the card game alludes to differences in Hedi's head injury in the two photos of him. Below is a graphic with the text "Win a Flash-Ball – Focus on the Arab skull."
Another account is an openly neo-Nazi French-language Gab account. Among its pinned posts are the mailing address of French Holocaust denier Vincent Reynouard in prison in Edinburgh, Scotland, where supporters can write to him; pro-Russia posts pertaining to the war in Ukraine; support for the banned website, with which the account appears to be affiliated.
In an August post, the account shared a link to an article from the banned site.
A post by the user in July included another link to an article; this article celebrates the deaths of sub-Saharan migrants in the desert The user wrote: "These n**gers would still be alive if they had stayed home. If you let them pass, they kill your children. In view of the demographic explosion on this cursed continent, only a vacuum cleaning policy will enable the solving of the crisis. This expanding macaque mass [i.e., black migrants] is a deadly threat to humanity."
[1] See MEMRI DTTM Report, German Neo-Nazis And White Supremacists, Finding Safe Haven On Extremist Platform Gab, Post Content Denying The Holocaust, Praise Hitler, Promote Nazi Ideology, And Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories – Including Content That Is Illegal In Germany – As Gab CEO Posts German Government Demand For Information On Users Who Violate German Law, Mocks It Saying He Will Not Submit, August 1, 2023.
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