When I say gatekeepers Im not saying any single entity has 100 percent but together they cover most of the network in the US. The left comes up with all kinds of nasty tricks to shut down sites. Im not well versed in networking knowledge but I think there would be a formula or basic starting point based on what a projected number of users and the amount of data, traffic etc as a starting point. What gab has done was to use mastadons system. Its already built. It was supposedly designed to be decentralized and resistant to being shutdown that way. I have heard that if you want to operate independently you basicly need your own ISP, payment processor etc but there are speech friendly processors and other services now although Im sure theres not many. Hopefully the balance will shift with changing attitudes about speech when enough lefties get caught up in their own mess.