After its founder appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show on Fox News, social media platform Gab lashed out at Media Matters on Twitter for reminding audiences that Gab is “a haven for white nationalists:”

On September 5, white nationalist darling Tucker Carlson hosted Andrew Torba on his show, Tucker Carlson Tonight. Torba is the founder of Gab, a social media platform that gained prominence after Twitter permanently suspended a series of accounts for “hateful conduct” and users shifted to Gab instead. For its permissive approach in the face of clearly extremist speech, Gab has been described as a “haven for white nationalists” and a “magnet for the alt-right.” Media Matters called out Carlson for continuing to play footsie with extremism under the guise of supporting free speech:

On any given day (such as today), the posts that can be found on Gab include the following --

Homophobic statements:

Attempts to exonerate the white nationalist who was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Charlottesville victim Heather Heyer:

Misogynistic endorsements of domestic violence from Daily Stormer’s Andrew Anglin:

Anti-Semitic statements:

Promotion of a pro-Nazi documentary:

Grievances about L.L. Bean catalogs including non-white models:

Unscientific polls about the future of the white race:

While Carlson and Torba hide behind the free speech defense, they’re in fact not only empowering extremists, but also providing them with the unfettered tools to organize into action. That’s called enabling.