Gab, a social media platform created to cater to those who find Twitter’s terms of service oppressive, recently announced the launch of a new “groups” feature. A cursory look at the groups created so far helps confirm that the platform deserves its reputation as a “haven for white nationalists” since it is helping extremists get organized and share hateful rhetoric.

Alongside harmless groups on Gab related to gardening and “doggos,” anyone can find the following enclaves of extremism:

• A group for the fans of George Lincoln Rockwell, the founder of the American Nazi party, known for his blatant racism, homophobia, and anti-Semitism.

• A group for the admirer’s of the literary work of James Mason, an American neo-Nazi. Mason, an admirer of criminal cult leader Charles Manson, started a newsletter by the name of Siege, with which he wanted to spread “Manson’s views as a continuation of [Adolf] Hitler’s philosophy.”

• The group “Kekwork” that appears to be a safe space for “Kek followers” who resent getting banned from platforms like Reddit for violating their rules against violent content. “Kek” refers to a meme created by online message board users that depicts a “satirical religion based around the worship of the ancient Egyptian deity Kek,” and its use is strongly connected to online trolls.

• A group for the listeners of Radical Agenda, a “live-streamed call-in show” hosted by Christopher Cantwell, also known as “the crying Nazi.” The group is a repository of anti-Semitic content and calls to “downvote” certain YouTube content, a ploy members of the “alt-right” use to game YouTube algorithms and “boost hate videos and bury information they don’t like.” Incidentally, the banner picture for the group currently depicts a scene from the NBC Left Field episode “A mother turns to hate,” which featured white supremacist Jacob Goodwin and his mother, who appear in the picture. Goodwin is currently imprisoned for attacking a counter protester in the “Unite the Right” white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, VA.

• The group “Manosphere” for misogynists and other varieties of men’s rights activists. The group especially welcomes those who “loathe feminists.”

• A group for 3 percenters, the loosely-organized anti-government “patriot group.” Some members helped provide security for the Charlottesville, VA, “Unite The Right” rally:

• This anti-Muslim group with a very obvious mission:

• This group chock full of Nazi, anti-Semitic messaging, where a user blatantly urged fellow group members to engage in a campaign to harass “jews (sic) and anti-whites.”

• This group for Nazis and fascists to gather in:

• A fan group for Owen Benjamin’s unBEARables. Benjamin is a “criminally unfunny” self-described comedian whose hateful rhetoric against Parkland, FL, school shooting survivor David Hogg got him permanently banned from Twitter:

These group and their content are perfectly normal for Gab where posts on any given day include homophobic statements and defenses of white supremacy. But they contradict the platform’s often-repeated claims -- which it makes via tweets that are routinely deleted -- that it’s “not alt-right” or white supremacist: