Pro-free speech platform Parler is now back online for most users, after it was subject to Big Tech censors taking down its app, servers, and domain hosting.
The New Tech social media platform was taken off the internet back in mid-January, after Amazon Web Services kicked Parler from their web servers, following action from both Apple and Google to remove their app from their stores. Each of the Big Tech giants claimed that Parler allowed violent content to proliferate on their platform, and attempted to link them to the protests on Capitol Hill a week prior.
After just over a month of downtime, Parler is now back online for the majority of users, said interim CEO Mark Meckler. Access should be available for everyone after noon EST when the servers propagate throughout the internet. Around 80% of Parler users that National File spoke to were able to access the site at the time of writing. New users will be able to join the site from next week.
JUST IN – Twitter alternative #Parler is back online. pic.twitter.com/8vPxGKtsEC
— Disclose.tv 🚨 (@disclosetv) February 15, 2021
“We are off of the Big Tech platform, so that we can consider ourselves safe and secure for the future,” Meckler said in an interview, claiming that Parler would “thrive as the premier social media platform dedicated to free speech, privacy, and civil dialogue”:
Parler was built to offer a social media platform that protects free speech and values privacy and civil discourse. When Parler was taken offline in January by those who desire to silence tens of millions of Americans, our team came together, determined to keep our promise to our highly engaged community that we would return stronger than ever. We’re thrilled to welcome everyone back. Parler is being run by an experienced team and is here to stay.
The site’s community guidelines have also been updated, noting that Parler will be run in the spirit of the First Amendment, and moderate content from a viewpoint-neutral standpoint. Parler will continue to remove illegal content, such as child pornography, and will provide a “double-filter” system for NSFW and “trolling” content. Meckler said the site will be moderated by both AI and human editors.
Parler coming back online follows the dramatic firing of previous CEO, John Matze, at the start of this month, with Matze initially hinting that he had met “constant resistance” for his “strong belief in free speech,” which co-owner and conservative commentator Dan Bongino dismissed as totally false.
Matze later changed tack, saying that he didn’t want to work with President Trump to bring him onto Parler, claiming he could easily bully and influence the board into doing what he wanted, and had also been pushing for heavier moderation on the site as a way to get back onto Amazon’s web servers.
