Gab, a preferred alt-right social network that exploded in popularity after the Capitol riots, was offline Friday night and his Twitter account went dark as well.
Twitter users started posting that website and its associated social media account went off the air at approximately 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
At least one Twitter user who claimed to be on Gab just before dark, Friday night speculated that the site had been hacked as part of a cryptocurrency scam. The Post was unable to verify that theory.
The site was back up and running before midnight Friday, along with a message from CEO Andrew Torba explaining that it had been removed “out of an abundance of caution” after less than 20 accounts began “posting bitcoin wallet spam and related content.”
“Due to our swift action, zero bitcoin was sent to one of the posted addresses and the affected accounts are secured,” the statement said.
A “vulnerability” in the site’s codebase has been patched, the statement said.
Gab was taken offline by the host in 2018 after the suspect in the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre posted anti-Semitic tirades and conspiracy theories. It then started accepting cryptocurrency for payments to bypass technology companies.