On the protocol level, yes, but it’s still very different from X. Torba runs 100% of his own infrastructure with little to no dependence on third parties (Google, Apple, AWS, Mailchimp, Payment providers). It took him a very long time to build that. Google could kneecap X tomorrow if they wanted to by shutting down their servers. Gab also doesn’t throttle posts and limit their reach based on content.

I see what you mean. Gab COULD censor and throttle if they wanted to, but right now they’re not and the platform would lose 100% of its credibility and use if they decided to.