Donald Trump has been kept off Gab by "dopey advisers like Jared Kushner," CEO Andrew Torba said dismissing reports that claimed the former president returned to social media. Major social platforms banned Trump permanently after he encouraged his supporters to protest the certification of Electoral College votes in Washington D.C. on Jan. 6 leading to a deadly insurrection at the Capitol.
On Friday, some media outlets wrongly reported that Trump was back on social media with a Gab account. The confusion arose after the account, which is now reserved for the ex-president, had a blue verification tick that led many to believe he returned to social media.
Torba clarified in a post that Trump's account on Gab was a "mirror archive" of his Twitter account, which was permanently banned. He also said Kushner did not let Trump use Gab even though it was the "only safe place" left for conservatives.
"@realdonaldtrump is and always has been a mirror archive of POTUS' tweets and statements that we've run for years. We've always been transparent about this and would obviously let people know if the President starts using it," Torba said in the post. "The only reason he's not using it right now to contact his base is because dopey advisers like Jared Kushner, who lost him the election, are blocking him from using it."
Torba said that Kushner was "actively" trying to keep Trump away from Gab and was doing so for weeks. "Because Gab is the only safe place left for conservatives that means Kushner is trying to keep Trump off the Internet. Why?" he said.
Gab reserved "@realdonaltrump" for the ex-president in case he planned to return to maintain his online presence. The "about" section of the account mentioned that the account was an "uncensored Twitter archive and shares email statements sent by The Office of Donald J. Trump."
Gab: An Alternative to Parler?
Gab reportedly gained popularity among conservatives last month when tech giants permanently banned Trump from their platforms following the Capitol insurrection. Parler, a Twitter-like application that was popular among far-right activists and conspiracy theorists, was also pulled down from Google, Apple and Amazon Web Services after it emerged that the platform failed to keep a check on posts that issued death threats and called for violence ahead of President Joe Biden's inauguration.
In a 2016 interview with the Washington Post, Torba explained that he launched Gab in response to other social media platforms run by "progressive Silicon Valley leaders."
"I felt that it was time for a conservative leader to step up and to provide a forum where anybody can come and speak freely without fear of censorship," Torba had told the news outlet at the time.
