New Josh Shapiro ads say Doug Mastriano hired 'alt-right extremists' after payment to Gab

A $5,000 payment to a conservative social media platform in April is the focus of two new ads from Democrat Josh Shapiro’s campaign against Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano.

The two 30-second ads began airing earlier this week saying Mastriano paid thousands “to get antisemitic, alt-right extremists to be part of his campaign” by hiring social media company Gab Ai Inc. as an advertising consultant.

Pennsylvania campaign finance records show Gab was paid only once by Mastriano for advertising consulting.

Shapiro has raised the issue over Mastriano’s hiring of the conservative social media platform multiple times last month as Shapiro and his supporters saying his opponent should “cut ties” with Gab and denounce the platform’s founder, Andrew Torba.

The Franklin County lawmaker addressed the controversy in a July 28 Twitter post soon after a press conference where members of Democratic Jewish Outreach, elected officials and local leaders of various faiths in Philadelphia said Mastriano was recruiting “antisemitic, alt-right extremists” through Gab.

“Andrew Torba doesn’t speak for me or my campaign. I reject all anti-Semitism in any form. Recent smears by the Democrats and the media are blatant attempts to distract Pennsylvanians from suffering inflicted by Democrat policies,” a statement from Mastriano said. 

Mastriano’s campaign did not respond to a request for further comment this week. Mastriano typically does not grant interviews with members of the media, even barring them from attending campaign events.

Mastriano’s comments did appear to distance himself from Gab’s founder and there have been reports that the Republican candidate has since deleted his Gab account around the same time.

Still, Shapiro and his supporters say Mastriano needs to publicly denounce Torba and Gab.

Why is Gab called an extremist haven?

Torba, a Lackawanna County resident, founded Gab in 2016 as an alternative to mainstream platforms like Facebook or Twitter promising to “preserve free speech” in the company’s mission statement.

“Gab stands for bringing folks together of all races, religions, and creeds who share in the common ideals of Western values, individual liberty, and the free exchange and flow of information,” a financial report for the 2019 fiscal year posted on Gab.com states.

The report noted that the company had grown to 1.15 million users as of April 2020 and saw 3.7 million monthly visitors that year.

While Gab has made the company’s laxed rules over removing posts or banning users a selling point, it has also led to concerns from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) that the site is a “haven” for hate and extremism.

One of the most infamous examples by the ADL is mass shooter Robert Bowers, who in October 2018 killed 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.

“(Bowers) posted to (Gab) just before the deadly synagogue attack in October of 2018 that killed 11 people. Doug Mastriano paid Gab.com thousands of dollars for alt-right, antisemitic extremists to be part of his campaign,” Jeffrey Letwin, a Pittsburgh Jewish community leader, says in press footage aired in one Shapiro’s recent ads.

The ADL in 2020 noted that accounts with ties to white supremacist groups had amassed thousands of followers. 

American Renaissance, whose Gab account describes them as “America's premier source for race-realist thought,” and emerging far-right group Patriot Front collectively had 14,000 users in 2020, according to the ADL. 

As of Thursday, American Renaissance alone had over 16,000 followers and Patriot Front, a group the ADL and Southern Poverty Law Center have called a white nationalist hate group, had over 10,000 followers on Gab.

Google and Apple have banned Gab from their respective mobile app stores.

The man behind the app

The criticisms about hate speech have been pointed towards the platform, Torba himself is almost as frequently the target of similar allegations.

Among the most recent calls against Gab, Torba has been labeled an antisemitic Christian Nationalist for statements he has made as recently as July.

Christian Nationalism is generally viewed as a political movement based on the idea that the country was founded on Christian values and that all laws in the country should adhere to that religious philosophy. 

Torba has previously denied claims that he harbors any hatred against any non-Christians, but he has repeatedly expressed a need for Christianity to be the law of the land. 

A video of a livestream posted to Media Matters on July 22 appears to show Torba addressing past claims that Gab is a bastion of hate speech.

Torba said that American conservatism was “explicitly Christian”, and that the conservative movement should be guiding America to a “Christian society.”

“No, we don’t want people who are atheists. We don’t want people who are Jewish … This is an explicitly Christian movement because this is an explicitly Christian country,” Torba said.

Torba added that he believed America is first and foremost a Christian nation and that his beliefs did not call for forcing religious conversion or deporting non-Christians.

“You’re free to stay here … but you’re going to enjoy the fruits of living in a Christian society, under Christian laws and under a Christian culture. And you can thank us later,” Torba said.

During a February 2021 interview on the nationally syndicated radio show Washington Watch with Tony Perkins, Torba said he believed the nation was embroiled in “spiritual warfare” with Christianity.

“Without a doubt … I mean this is very obviously a spiritual war between good and evil, between light and darkness. It’s a tale as old as time, but something that gives me hope as a Christian is that we serve the creator of the universe and that God always wins,” Torba said.

“If we’re going to escape this cancel culture, I really feel we need to build our own economy, build our own banks, our own business infrastructure, our own internet. I mean, that’s where things are going,” Torba added.

While Torba’s company accepted money from Mastriano’s campaign, Torba does not appear to have contributed directly to Mastriano or any other candidate in Pennsylvania this year, according to state campaign finance data.

The USA TODAY Network Pennsylvania was unable to find a direct contact for Torba to ask for further comment and questions about Torba’s comments sent to a press email address posted on Gab was immediately returned as undeliverable Thursday.