Gab's free-speech stance makes it popular with right-wing trolls and racists. [Updated]

When right-wing trolls and outright racists get kicked off of Twitter, they often move to Gab, a Twitter competitor. Gab was founded by Donald Trump supporter Andrew Torba, who says it's devoted to unfettered free expression online. This week, Andrew Anglin, editor of the neo-Nazi site Daily Stormer, became an active Gab user after a succession of Internet companies refused service to his website, forcing it offline. The site also hosts controversial right-wing trolls like Milo Yiannopoulos and Andrew "weev" Auernheimer.

On Thursday, Gab said that Google had banned its Android app from the Google Play Store for violating Google's ban on hate speech.

Gab ✔ @getongab
Breaking news: Google has removed Gab's Android app from the Google Play Store for "hate speech."
7:45 PM - Aug 17, 2017
https://twitter.com/getongab/status/...d-by-google%2F

Google explained the removal in an e-mail to Ars. "In order to be on the Play Store, social networking apps need to demonstrate a sufficient level of moderation, including for content that encourages violence and advocates hate against groups of people," the statement read. "This is a long-standing rule and clearly stated in our developer policies. Developers always have the opportunity to appeal a suspension and may have their apps reinstated if they've addressed the policy violations and are compliant with our Developer Program Policies."

Gab describes itself as a "social network for creators who believe in free speech, individual liberty, and the free flow of information online." As part of that commitment to free speech, Gab's content rules are more permissive than most major social media networks. The rules ban threats and child pornography, but unlike other major social networks, it doesn't ban content that attacks people based on their race, gender, or other protected category. That has made the site popular with people who like to attack people based on their race or ethnicity.

But while Twitter officially bans hateful content, it doesn't do a very good job of policing that content in practice. Twitter hosts accounts like the American Nazi Party, the Ku Klux Klan, and the virulently anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church. And if you search for any racial or ethnic slur in Twitter's search engine, you'll find numerous attacks on people based on their race or ethnicity.

Google is following in Apple's footsteps here. Apple has long had more restrictive app store policies, and it originally rejected the Gab app for allowing pornographic content to be posted on the service—despite the fact that hardcore pornography is readily available on Twitter. In a second rejection, Apple faulted the app for containing content that was "defamatory or mean-spirited"—Apple's version of the hate speech rule.

Google, by contrast, originally approved Gab's Android app, only to remove it from the app store on Thursday.

Update (8/18, 2:10p ET): This story has been updated to incorporate Google's statement about the Gab decision. In full disclosure, the author's brother works at Google.