Gab Dropped as Sponsor of Turning Point USA’s Student Action Summit

A partnership between free speech social media platform Gab and youth conservative activism organization Turning Point USA appeared to fall through on Monday, according to Gab’s CEO Andrew Torba.

The platform had signed on as an official sponsor of Turning Point’s upcoming Student Action Summit. However, when Gab’s logo was removed from materials promoting the event, and further inquiry went unanswered, it seemed that the partnership was off.

Torba had expressed his desire for Gab to sponsor the Student Action Summit as a means to advance the mutual goal of advancing free speech held by both Turning Point and Gab. The company had arranged for a $6,000 donation to be made to Turning Point before it became clear the organization wished to go in a different way regarding the sponsorship.

Gab has rose to prominence in recent years as a digital public square presenting an alternative to the mass political censorship practiced by Silicon Valley tech companies such as Twitter and Facebook. While frequently attacked by legacy media for selective content posted by its users, the company embraces a vision of online free speech in which users can speak freely without fear of corporate censorship.

In the statement released regarding the matter, Gab made it clear that they would be willing to reengage with TPUSA on future events, regardless of the partnership seeming to fall through for unknown reasons this year.

TPUSA’s annual Student Action Summits have attracted large turnouts of young conservative activists, and this year’s event has gathered a star-studded lineup of right-of-center speakers and figures. Tucker Carlson, Jordan Peterson, Donald Trump Jr, Laura Ingraham and Nigel Farage are a few of the public figures slated to attend, and a turnout of more than 5,000 activists is anticipated.