(Left) Photo by Broderick Visser / Diverge Media. (Right) Screenshot from Parler App.
By: Broderick Visser
Following changes to Parler’s content guidelines, Apple has permitted Parler, “The world’s premier free speech platform” back on the IOS app store.
In Monday’s letter from Apple to congress, they said their decision to remove Parler from The App Store was “an independent decision” and that Apple “did not coordinate or otherwise consult with Google or Amazon with respect to that decision.”
iPhone users alike are now able to download the app to their devices — but as of now, Android users will have to wait and continue using the Twitter alternative through their phone’s web browser or via a computer.
The app was booted from Amazon’s cloud services, the App Store and Google Play back in January following allegations it had been the primary place where the Jan. 6 Capitol riot was planned. Which was proved to be false. “Much of the planning took place on Facebook,” Forbes reported.
The app came back online on Feb. 15 — but not until after Paler’s former CEO, John Matze, was fired by the company’s board.
Matze “was also stripped of his severance and equity in the company. Matze claimed that he was removed because he wanted the network to introduce content moderation and ban accounts associated with far-right extremists, however, the company has said his claim is inaccurate,” reports Newsweek.
“It is me and my co-owners who are resolutely committed to a free speech site,” Dan Bongino said in response regarding the situation. “[Matze] is no white knight in this story.”
“The exchange suggests a rift had opened between Matze and Parler’s owners following Amazon’s decision to stop hosting the company’s service over dozens of examples of violent content and incitement in the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol,” CNN reported.
Prior to the Capitol riot, Parler made over 50 referrals to the FBI in regards to violent content on the platform.
“In the days and weeks leading up to January 6th, Parler referred violent content from its platform to the FBI for investigation over 50 times, and Parler even alerted law enforcement to specific threats of violence being planned at the Capitol,”
A February 8th letter from Parler to Chairwoman Maloney of the US Committee on Oversight and Reform.
“These referrals represent only a fraction of the dozens of posts with violent rhetoric that Parler collected and forwarded to the FBI for investigation in the days leading up to January 6th. Even after the violent attacks stopped, Parler continued to dutifully and proactively report posts to the FBI where users
threatened additional violence, including one poster who threatened after a lengthy tirade that; ‘[I]n the next 24 hours, you will hear the shot heard around the world!!!’,” reads the document.
“Moreover, even as its Big Tech rivals moved to unlawfully de-platform Parler, the Company still committed valuable resources to working with law enforcement in order to service and expeditiously respond to Emergency Disclosure Requests, subpoenas, and warrants. The FBI understood the strain that the Company was under and thanked Parler for its efforts to help law enforcement especially under such difficult circumstances for the Company.”
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