Parler CEO says the app may never return after being booted by Big Tech

Parler CEO says the app may never return after being booted by Big Tech
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Days after Parler was unceremoniously deplatformed by Amazon, and had its apps removed from both Google and Apple’s app stores, Parler CEO John Matze says that the platform may never get back online.

In an interview with Reuters, Matze said that major service providers had accused Parler of failing to moderate violent content, giving them reason to remove Parler from their services. He said that he did not know when, or if, the website would come back online.

“It could be never, we don’t know yet,” he said. “It may take days, it may take weeks, but Parler will return and when we do we will be stronger.”

Earlier in the week, Matze denounced efforts to deplatform his app as “sick” and “evil,” describing Big Tech’s actions as being opposed to the spirit of the Constitution. 

“I think it’s sick,” Matze told Fox News. “That’s not what the Constitution said. That’s not what the Constitution stands for, banning 10-plus million US voters from the internet, barring people from free speech.”

Users of the conservative-driven social media platform have been unable to access the website since Amazon Web Services ejected Parler from its servers early Monday. Apple and Google also removed the app from their stores over the company’s apparent failure to remove threats of violence posted by some of its users, including lawyer Lin Wood, who attained infamy during his attempts to contest the results of the U.S. presidential election. 

Parler was established two years ago, but has recently come under fire following last week’s riots at the U.S. Capitol, leading to its tarring and feathering in the media, which prompted major tech companies to follow suit. 

Parler has since filed a lawsuit against Amazon, accusing Amazon Web Services of breach of contract and violating an anti-competitive law over its decision to boot the website. 

In response, Amazon said it warned Parler about its users’ violent content prior to removing the website, and gave it time to comply. Parler, Amazon said, failed to promptly remove the content. 

Speaking to Reuters, Matze said his platform has been talking to more than one competing hosting service for a return of the site, but declined to divulge names, stating that they would come under fire if people knew who they were. 

Matze said that it remains his hope for the app to return to Amazon.

“It’s hard to keep track of how many people are telling us that we can no longer do business with them,” Matze said.

In addition to losing its hosting services, Matze said that Parler had also been removed from its online service provider, Stripe, and lost access to its Scylla Enterprise database. It has also been banned from Twilio and Slack. The company was also removed from American Express, but that company did not have a direct relationship with Parler, Reuters reports.

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