Parler was founded in 2018 and rapidly earned popularity amongst right-wingers, conservatives, and Trump supporters. Towards the end of last year, the site gained massive new followers and traffic, amid the 2020 presidential election and other events in politics.
The Backstory on Parler and the Big Tech Blacklist
This year, however, has placed Parler in the spotlight, to say the least. When far-right QAnon followers, Proud Boys, and others stormed the U.S. Capitol, this led to the widespread vilification of conservatives, despite folks on the right largely condemning the January 6 riots.
The insurrection last month also prompted Amazon Web Services, Google Play, and Apple to cut ties with Parler. These bodies later claimed that Parler’s content moderation policies didn’t do enough to stop talk about violence; however, these same standards have not been applied to more mainstream platforms.
Former Parler CEO John Matze says he doesn't understand why he was terminated https://t.co/r6kU1ymLxP @MorningsMaria @FoxBusiness
— Maria Bartiromo (@MariaBartiromo) February 5, 2021
Many Twitter users have issued death threats against former President Donald Trump and endorsed violence against conservatives; many Facebook events pages were used to plan gatherings that led to violence, riots, police officers being attacked, small businesses being looted. Still, neither Facebook nor Twitter have been pulled from the app stores or lost web hosting.
In light of the aforementioned details, Parler stated that the actions from Amazon, Apple, and Google are more about shutting down competition against big tech companies than about stopping violence.
The Return of Parler
Just earlier this month, Americans learned that the Parler board of directors fired CEO John Matze.
Matze released a statement on this matter alleging that he tirelessly fought for free speech; however, Dan Bongino, a conservative podcast owner and Parler co-owner, explained that the vision of free speech always belonged to himself and the other co-owners, not Matze.
Dan Bongino: “Monday looks good” for Parler to be back online pic.twitter.com/XfpMWmS8Bf
— TV News HQ (@TVNewsHQ) February 5, 2021
On Friday, Bongino also spoke with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, as reported by Breitbart News. During his interview, Bongino explained that Parler could be back online as soon as Monday, February 8.
The return of Parler would be welcomed by many conservatives and other users of the site. Following Amazon pulling its web hosting services, news broke that Parler found new hosting from Epik.
Many Americans who used and enjoyed Parler will be keeping their eyes peeled for the site’s full return, come next week.
What do you think about the possibility of Parler returning online next week? Are you looking forward to the website’s return to the internet? Let us in on your thoughts down below in the comments section.
