Parler Is Back Online -- Barely: Here s Everything You Need To Know
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Trump's reelection campaign joined the social media app Parler in 2018.
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[ Parler] CEO John M[/tags/amazon/ Amazon][/tags/amazon/ Amazon] cut off hosting services.
"We will resolve any challenge before us and plan to welcome all of you back soon," Matze said in a note bearing the title Technical Difficulties. There were just a handful of messages posted on a single page. "We will not let civil discourse perish!"
Parler was booted offline a week ago after Amazon Web Services cut its services, a move that followed decisions by [/apple/ Apple] and [/google/ Google] to stop distributing the social network's [/topics/mobile-apps/ mobile apps]. The conservative microblogging site has sued to have its service restored.
The moves by tech giants to distance themselves from Parler comes amid growing concerns the service could be used to promote more violence in the wake of the [ ], who whipped them up at a rally. Both [/news/twitter-permanently-bans-trumps-account/ Twitter] and [/news/facebook-blocks-trump-indefinitely-following-capitol-hill-violence/ Facebook] blocked Trump's account because they are concerned the president's remarks could spark more violence.
Talk of guns and violence was widespread in Parler discussions ahead of the event, which was organized to support the president's baseless claims the November election had been stolen from him.
One Parler user on a thread pushing a QAnon conspiracy theory said, "by all the Patriots descending on Washington DC on #jan6 ....come armed...."
Another expletive-laced message posted the day before the riot warned: "To all our enemies high and low you want a war? Well you're asking for one...To the American people on the ground in DC today and all over this great nation, be prepared for anything."
In an interview conducted as the nation was coming to grips with the mob violence in Washington, The [ New York Times asked Matze] how such posts apparently advocating and threatening violence were allowed to appear on the site.
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"Well, for violence and advocation of violence, or violence specifically, it needs to be a clear and imminent threat," Matze told the Times' Kara Swisher. "And I don't know -- I've been witnessing what happened today a little bit, but I'm not really too much in the weeds on this stuff.
"I haven't seen a whole lot of illegal activity," he said. "Maybe there has been some, but it's a minority of the cases."
Parler has grown in popularity with right-wing users amid allegations that Twitter, [/tags/facebook/ Facebook] and other social networks harbor anti-conservative bias. (The social networks have denied those charges.) From Jan. 6 to 10, Parler was downloaded 997,000 times across Apple's App Store and Google Play, which was more than 10 times the downloads the app generated from Jan. 1 to 5, according to mobile app analytics company Sensor Tower. Before Parler was taken offline, the app was downloaded more than 11 million times since it launched, with most of the installs (9 million) coming from the US.
In November, high-profile conservatives urged others to join Parler after major news outlets projected Joe Biden's victory. "Twitter has aided the Democrat Party in stealing this election and now everything Trump says is being silenced. Tell everyone you know to get on Parler," far-right provocateur [/news/right-wing-activist-laura-loomer-handcuffs-herself-to-twitters-nyc-office/ Laura Loomer] told her more than 687,000 followers on Parler. (Loomer has been banned by both Twitter and Facebook for violating their rules.)
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Loomer is just one of the millions of people who've recently sought refuge with Parler, which calls itself a nonbiased, free speech-driven platform. Republicans such as [ Sen. Ted Cruz from Texas] have been promoting the app since Twitter started applying labels last year to Trump's tweets that falsely claimed fraud with mail-in ballots or that the company said glorified violence.
Here's what you need to know about Parler.
What is Parler?
Launched in 2018, Parler is a social media app created by University of Denver graduates Matze and Jared Thomson. They came up with Parler because they were "exhausted with a lack of transparency in big tech, ideological suppression and privacy abuse," according to Parler's [ website].
The private company is based in Henderson, Nevada, and has between 11 and 50 employees, according to [ LinkedIn]. Parler means "to talk" in French and is meant to be pronounced as PAR-lay. But as more people started saying the app's name like the English word "parlor," that pronunciation took over.
The social network has a similar feel to Twitter. You follow accounts, and content appears in a chronological news feed. Users can post up to 1,000 characters, which is more than Twitter's 280-character limit, and can upload photos, GIFs and memes.
You can also comment on a post and search for hashtags. There's a feature called "echo," with a megaphone icon, that functions like the Twitter retweet button, and there's an upvote icon for a feature that resembles "liking" a post on other social media platforms. As with other social networks, you have to be at least 13 years old to sign up for an account.