Voat
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|---|---|
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| News aggregator | |
| languages | English |
| operator | Justin Chastain |
| Registration | Required for viewing |
| On-line | April 2014 (as WhoaVerse ) |
| https://voat.co/ | |
Voat Inc. is a news aggregator and social networking service , similar to Reddit , where registered members can submit content such as text posts and direct links. Registered users can then vote for these contributions and thus influence their visibility. The content entries are divided into areas of interest, the so-called “subverses”.
The source code of the software is open .
The site has been described as an essential medium for right-wing extremist propaganda by several media outlets, including Quartz , The New York Times, and the US and UK editions of Wired .
history
Founded in April 2014 under the name WhoaVerse , the website was a hobby project by a student named Atif Colo (known as @Atko on Voat) who was later joined by Justin Chastain (known as @PuttItOut). The website has been labeled as an alternative to Reddit with an emphasis on free expression.
In December 2014, WhoaVerse changed its name to Voat for ease of use. A goat (rhyme in English: "goat") became the mascot.
In February 2015, after allegations by Reddit censors , Voat alleged that she had seen a "huge influx" of new users, most of them from Reddit.
Voat's Germany-based web hosting service, Host Europe , shut down the service in June 2015, claiming that Voat had published "hatred, offensive and youth-endangering content" and "illegal right-wing extremist content". The founder of Voat attributed the shutdown to "political correctness". Paypal made payments to Voat due to "sexually oriented materials or services" freeze.
Voat then switched off four of his own subverses, two of which contained sexualized images of minors (" jailbait "). The website continued to accept donations in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin and was able to continue to function because it had moved to a different hosting provider. The website continued to experience prolonged downtime due to an ongoing distributed denial of service attack that prevented 700,000 unique visitors from accessing the website.
In January 2017, Colo resigned as CEO on the grounds that he did not have the time to work on the website; Chastain then took up his post as CEO.
In May 2017, he carried out a fundraising campaign and announced that the project may have to be closed due to lack of funds.
In November 2017, part of Reddit's incel community moved to Voat after an incel community was banned on Reddit.
Since 2019, a user account is required to display the website.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kevin Roose: The 'alt-right' created a parallel internet. It's a holy mess. December 12, 2017, accessed April 7, 2020 .
- ^ Tired of the Liberal Agenda Infecting Your Social Media? There's an App For That . In: Wired . ISSN 1059-1028 ( wired.com [accessed April 7, 2020]).
- ↑ 15 Aug 2014 Atif Colo Feed 215up: WhoaVerse for social communities, built on open source. Retrieved April 7, 2020 .
- ↑ Amid censorship brouhaha, Reddit clone Voat has its servers closed by hosting provider. In: VentureBeat. June 19, 2015, accessed April 7, 2020 (American English).
- ↑ Alex Hern: Reddit clone Voat dropped by web host for 'politically incorrect' content . In: The Guardian . June 22, 2015, ISSN 0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed April 7, 2020]).
- ↑ The new Reddit has had its site shut down for being 'politically incorrect'. June 22, 2015, accessed April 7, 2020 .
- ↑ Rachel Pick: PayPal Cuts Off Reddit Clone Voat Over 'Obscenity'. In: Vice. June 23, 2015, accessed April 7, 2020 .
- ^ Adi Robertson: Welcome to Voat: Reddit killer, troll haven, and the strange face of internet free speech. July 10, 2015, Retrieved April 7, 2020 (American English).
- ↑ Where are 8chan users going now? In: BBC News . August 6, 2019 ( bbc.com [accessed April 7, 2020]).