Gab: Cloudflare Hasn’t Suspended Its Service After Users Report Errors

A screenshot shows the social media platform Gab on Jan. 10, 2020. (Screenshot/Gab)

Gab, the social media platform, said that Cloudflare has not suspended its service after error messages were being returned for users.

In a statement on Twitter on Monday, the company wrote it’s “not true” that Cloudflare suspended its service, adding that the company is “doing some backend work” and will “be back up shortly.”

“Please understand that we are diligently working to scale the fastest growing website in the history of the internet,” the social media website continued in saying.

As of about 7 p.m. eastern, the site was still down with an “Error 1016.” It said, “What happened? You’ve requested a page on a website (gab.com) that is on the Cloudflare network. Cloudflare is currently unable to resolve your requested domain (gab.com). What can I do? If you are a visitor of this website: Please try again in a few minutes. If you are the owner of this website: Check your DNS settings.”

Cloudflare provides content delivery network services, denial-of-service attack mitigation, and other services. There was speculation that Cloudflare could stop providing service in the midst of a social media pressure campaign backed—or at least tacitly supported—by large corporations to deplatform Parler. On Monday morning, Amazon Web Services canceled its service with Parler, taking the site offline, coming after Apple and Google worked to remove the Parler app from their mobile stores.

In recent months, Parler saw an upsurge in popularity—particularly among big-name conservatives—due to the company’s moderation policies.

Other than Amazon, Google and Apple took the Parler app down from the companies’ respective app stores. Those companies accused Parler of allowing content they viewed as dangerous to be posted on the platform.

The Amazon Trust and Safety team told Parler that it would suspend web hosting because the firm “poses a very real risk to public safety.”

As a result, a number of users said they were moving to Gab.

Parler has since filed a lawsuit against Amazon for using monopolistic practices and voiding a contract.

Parler argued that Amazon’s move was “motivated by political animus” and designed to reduce competition to benefit Twitter. Twitter is a customer of Amazon Web Services’ division.

“When Twitter announced two evenings ago that it was permanently banning President Trump from its platform, conservative users began to flee Twitter en masse for Parler. The exodus was so large that the next day, yesterday, Parler became the number one free app downloaded from Apple’s App Store,” the lawsuit reads.