Microsoft’s president explains how Gab’s shutdown notice went from customer support to his desk

In a wide-ranging interview on The Vergecast this week, Microsoft president and chief legal officer Brad Smith expanded on why the company nearly shut down Gab.ai, the "free-speech" absolutist platform that's become an alt-right favorite.

Earlier this month, Microsoft sent a notice to Gab threatening to end the company's Azure cloud service if it did not remove two anti-Semitic hate speech posts within 48 hours. The notice, which Gab said would cause the social network to "go down for weeks/months," sent the social network's operators into a frenzy. But Smith said Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington, was asleep when the notice was sent.

"Literally in that case, in all candor,...

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