Gab is using Brave’s open source code to build its browser, Dissenter, and plans to integrate Bitcoin’s Lightning Network and replace BAT tokens, reported Decrypt Media, April 25, 2019.
Brave CEO Not Impressed by Dissenter
The free-speech social media platform Gab has been blocked out from almost all payment processors and web host providers on the market. The company had been on the lookout for ways to resist this boycott and not be silenced due to the external pressures.
And they seem to have found a way out.
Andrew Torba, the CEO of Gab, told Decrypt Media that they have created their web browser, which is a forked version of the Brave browser, and plan to release it in the next few weeks.
Brave browser CEO, Brendan Eich, clearly wasn’t impressed by this move and let his followers know on Twitter:
“Answer this: what kind of parasite forks an open source browser to get an extension distributed to people who can already work around silly AppStore bans? Brave is for users who dare to take back control of their data. Some who wants a detached comment system can use Dissenter.”
Torba responded to Eich’s comment and justified the move by saying that the whole point of open source projects, such as Brave, is to offer others an opportunity to build over the existing code and add more value to it. Even Brave itself is built on top of the Google Chromium project, he reminded.
“I can’t imagine any legitimate reason why Brendan or anyone else would have a problem with this,” Torba added.
Empowering Users not Advertisers
According to Torba, Brave’s feature of rewarding Basic Attention Token (BAT) to users for engaging with advertisements empowers the advertisers, while he feels that it should be the other way round.
In the forked version of Brave, Gab has removed those parts, including BAT token, from the browser “that weren’t needed” while keeping those that align with their motive of giving their users the upper hand.
Torba described the browser as something that is outside the control of the Silicon Valley companies. His idea is to create a free-speech browser, marketplace, and app store powered by bitcoin, the free speech money.
Speaking on the Lightning Network integration, Torba said that they’re already working with a very influential Lightning Network company, but do not have any public news on that.
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