Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin, speaks during an event in Gettysburg to formally announce a run for governor on Jan. 8, 2022. (Screenshot)
Republican gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano’s use of the far-right social media platform Gab.com to engage potential voters is a step toward extremism that more moderate members of the Republican Party have a responsibility to repudiate, experts on politics and the internet say.
Mastriano paid $5,000 for campaign consulting to Gab.com, according to his campaign finance reports filed in May. Gab was the site where a gunman posted anti-Semitic screeds before the October 2018 shooting when he allegedly killed 11 people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.
The 49-year-old Allegheny County man, who faces federal hate crime charges, wrote on the site about the white supremacist conspiracy theory that white people are being replaced in American society by immigrants and people of color, a theme Mastriano also has touched on in public statements.
Libby Hemphill, a University of Michigan professor who studies political communication and social media, said Gab emerged as a refuge for hate speech after mainstream platforms including Facebook, Reddit and Twitter took steps to moderate and remove racist and bigoted content.
“When a mainstream politician says I want to reach hate groups where they...
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