Free speech social media platform Gab.ai has rebranded as Gab.com and aims to become a tech hub for “liberty-minded tech startups” that wish to avoid connections to leftist Silicon Valley groups.

Gab.ai, the free-speech themed social media platform founded by CEO Andrew Torba, has long aimed to act as an alternative to sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Now Gab is rebranding as Gab.com and aims to provide an infrastructure for tech developers that wish to grow their own platforms and products without being forced to go through leftist companies based in Silicon Valley.

Andrew Torba spoke to Breitbart News about the websites rebranding stating: “This week Gab announced a rebrand to Gab.com in order to continue our mission of defending free expression and individual liberty online for all people.” Torba continued: “Gab.com is the next chapter in our story. We are maturing as a platform, as a brand, and as a community of people from around the world. We seek to free humanity from the chains of Silicon Valley’s data silo, psychological manipulation, censorship, and ideological echo chambers.”

Torba stated that the platform wants to create a platform where all ideas can be expressed, saying: “We are in the process of building out free speech-friendly infrastructure so that one day, other liberty-minded tech startups can build using our tools and avoid any connection at all to Silicon Valley.”

Discussing Gab’s growth worldwide and how it can act as an open communications platform when other social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter censor their uses, Torba stated: “Gab has over 670,000 users from around the world and we are adding 100,000+ new users every month. Our goal is to make Gab the home of free speech online.”

“Approximately 150,000 of our users have joined from Brazil after intense censorship by Silicon Valley during their ongoing Presidential election. We are also seeing explosive growth from India and Sweeden after a recent wave of censorship aimed at major influencers on the right,” said Torba.

Gab is also opening a new round of funding where users of the site can directly invest in Gab themselves, helping to build the free speech platform even further:

“To help us accomplish our goals and build out our free speech infrastructure, we are opening up a round of funding today directly to The People,” said Torba. “Our users can invest in the company, own stock, and join us on our journey to build the home of free speech online. This is also sending a powerful message to Silicon Valley: The People can fund, power, and build our own platforms, you will be replaced.”

Gab has raised $280,000 in less than 24 hours with its new campaign.

Gab can be joined for free at Gab.com

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com