The Rebel, rejected: Website dumped
Tech company cuts off traffic to conservative site
The ultra- conservative online Canadian media outlet The Rebel reportedly went dark in some parts of the world Monday after a technology company stopped directing traffic to its site.
Rebel proprietor Ezra Levant told Reuters he was given 24 hours notice of — but no explanation for — the move.
“If this was a political censorship decision, it is terrifying — like a phone company telling you it is cancelling your phone number on 24 hours notice because it doesn’t like your conversations,” Levant told Reuters. He did not identify the company. Levant said the site was still up in “about half of the world.”
It’s the latest blow for the Rebel, which last week lost three regular contributors in the aftermath of a violent rally in Charlottesville, Va., on Aug. 12.
One of its leading personalities, Faith Goldy, was broadcasting live from the alt- right rally when a car plowed i nto a crowd of counter- protesters behind her, killing one and wounding 19 others.
In the lead- up to the attack, Goldy’s commentary was sympathetic to the alt-right demonstrators, complaining of their unfair handling by police and media. Goldy was fired, one Rebel co-founder quit and a host of contributors resigned.
Levant founded The Rebel Media from the ashes of the Sun News Network in 2015, building it from a tiny niche website into a global brand on three continents. Levant recently boasted on Twitter that The Rebel had “cracked the top 50 YouTube news channels.”
According to Reuters, Levant was scrambling Monday to find another provider. Levant did not respond to an interview request from the Post late Monday afternoon.
Last week, Google and Go-Daddy pulled the neo- Nazi website The Daily Stormer offline by yanking the site’s web address after its publisher mocked the woman killed in the Charlottesville attack.
IF THIS WAS A POLITICAL CENSORSHIP DECISION, IT IS TERRIFYING