Parler Is Coming Back By End of January

Parler chief executive officer John Matze said he is confident that his social media Parler is coming back sooner than expected. He reported that his team launched a status website and recovered the company’s data over the weekend. Matze told Fox News in a phone interview last Sunday: “I’m confident that by the end of the month, we’ll be back up.” 

RELATED: Big Tech Firms Cut Ties With Parler

Epik website

Last week, Parler registered its domain with Epik, a host sharing website. Its original server, Amazon web services, terminated its agreement with Parler and shut down the site. Amazon said that Parler failed to moderate “egregious content” related to the January 6 Capitol riot. Amazon’s decision made Matze realize that Parler’s return soon is possible. “Every day it changes wildly, but I feel confident now,” he said. “We’re making significant progress. When you go into Parler.com it doesn’t go into the void now, it hits a server, and it returns just one piece of information.” When users go to the Parler website, they will see Matze’s message “Hey is this thing on?”

The Parler CEO said the message getting posted is a “big milestone” as it means he can now reconnect with the public. “We’re going to be putting periodic updates there,” he added. “We’re going to try to get an update out every day… so that people can stay up to date with the site. Matze also posted his message on the static site: “Now seems like the right time to remind you all — both lovers and haters — why we started this platform. We believe privacy is paramount and free speech essential, especially on social media. Our aim has always been to provide a nonpartisan public square where individuals can enjoy and exercise their rights to both. We will resolve any challenge before us and plan to welcome all of you back soon. We will not let civil discourse perish!”

Parler Sues Amazon 

Parler’s relaxed filter and moderation made it a favorite among Trump supporters, due to its relaxed moderation. The posts leading to the Capitol riots exemplified this. After the incident, officials began pointing to inflammatory messages posted on social media platform that promoted violence. Consequently, critics called out the platform’s inability to moderate their content. This led to Apple and Google banning them from their app stores, where users download the apps. Then, Amazon followed suit and pulled the plug.

Last week, Parler sued Amazon, alleging both a breach of contract and an antitrust violation. In its suit, Parler claimed that  “political animus”  led Amazon to remove them from its servers. Amazon had nothing to do with Parler’s resurrection, as only the Parler team got the site up and running. With Matze recovering Parler’s data, they can now rebuild then relaunch the platform. “Now we can actually rebuild Parler. It’s critically important,” Matze said. 

Return to Apple 

“We've only suspended them,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said. “And so if they get their moderation together, they would be back on there.” But, in order to regain some of its lost clients, they need to get back into good graces with Apple and Google.  

Cook clarified that Apple does not see promoting violence as a form of free speech, He added that the millions of apps on the company's app store abides by the terms of service Apple lays out. “We looked at the incitement to violence that was on [Parler]. And we don't consider that free speech and incitement to violence has an intersection. We have rules and regulations, and we just ask that people abide by those,” Cooke said. 

Nobody Quit on Parler

The Parler CEO explained the recent headlines of Parler possibly never returning resulted from a Reuters interview. There, Matze said “It could be never… we don’t know yet,” when asked when they plan to return. While he suggested that Parler might be done, he was being pessimistic at the time. And the media just ran with it. Over the past three days, Matze regained his optimism. He said he remains upbeat and said that Parler staff stood by him during the past two weeks. “Despite all of this, we haven’t even had one employee quit,” Matze said. “Not one, even with them being harassed and threatened, no one has quit… we’ve got such a strong team, this has just made them believe in us more.”

Watch the Fox News report where Apple CEO Tim Cook explains why they removed Parler from the app store:

 Loading ...

Will you download Parler and use it again once it comes back? Or have you moved on to another social app? Let us know what you think about the social media platform’s possible comeback and if you plan to reuse it. Leave your comments in the section below!