Former Parler CEO John Matze argues that the decision not to blame the social media platform banned by Big Tech giants like Amazon.
Former Parler CEO John Matze said on Friday that he was “not exactly sure” why he was fired from the business, but that he intends to make the social media platform a little more pragmatic as he still respect the freedom of speech. “was not embraced by the board.
‘Jared, the other co-founder and I, designed and put together the original software. I made most of the iPhone app myself, coded the first two and a half years myself, so given recent tension and all that’s going on, there was some backlash, back and forth, but I understand that not yet this day, why I’m terminated, “Matze told Maria Bartiromo, host Maria Morir:” I just do not think they know what’s going on. “
JOHANNES MATZE, Former CEO, says he is terminated by the council: ‘I did not participate in this decision’
In a memorandum to staff members first obtained by FOX Business on Wednesday, Matze noted that ‘the Parler board under Rebekah Mercer’s decision has decided to terminate my position as CEO immediately’, and that he ‘does not comply with this decision did not participate ‘.
Matze added that he recently received ‘ongoing resistance’ to his original vision on the social media platform following Amazon Web Services’ decision to close Parler due to the failure to provide ‘serious’ content related to the riot on Capitol to moderate on January 6th.
“Over the past few months, I have constantly resisted with my product vision, my strong belief in free speech and my view of how the Parler website should be managed. For example, I have advocated for more product stability and what I believe is a more effective approach to moderation of the content, ‘Matze wrote.
Bartiromo asked Matze what the board opposes, noting that he has a vision for a “free speech opportunity in a world where we see censorship on so many platforms” on social media.
‘Since I’ve picked up from the Apple stores and downloaded Google Play and Amazon, I thought this was probably a good time to start looking at whether we’s a little more pragmatic, while still respecting freedom of speech. And so my concept was the idea of adding AI and other technologies to the platform to be more proactive, especially in times of scale, but then to have a system in place so that every decision made by these authoritative devices like AIs be, taken. and other people, so that a third party can come in and say, ‘Hey, I do not agree with the decision these guys made,’ ‘Matze explained Friday.
“You can then continue to dispute it, and it will be sent to a jury of your peers,” he added. ‘It was my idea and my concept … It was my vision going forward for moderation, but I do not really know what the biggest disconnect was. It was not explained to me. ”
Parler terminated CEO John Matze last week. (Photo by Jaap Arriens / NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Matze then says that the messaging app Telegram has seen an increase in popularity since Parler was taken offline. However, efforts are being made by Big Tech to expand it as well.
“It’s really interesting to see how people have moved since Parler was offline, because it was the place to go,” he said. “We’ll see what happens.”
Parler’s chief policy officer Amy Peikoff hit back on Matze’s memo on Thursday with a scathing statement provided to Fox News, calling his account of the events ‘inaccurate and misleading’. Peikoff echoed the Fox News contributor and Parler investor Dan Bongino, who had a problem with Matze’s allegations that he was the person fighting on the free speech platform and turned his thoughts to Facebook. Bartiromo played a portion of Bongino’s video in which he says Matze and the company did not share the same vision. Bartiromo asked Matze for his reaction to the video.
“Dan’s explanation was the first I heard from the company … Dan is not a manager, he has never been to the company’s office and he may have talked to two employees and he is fairly new to the business. I mean, I was there two and a half years before he joined, so I do not know if the explanation is accurate. I think my vision is pretty much in line with what they’re saying, “Matze said, adding:” I don’t think anything I said earlier is too inappropriate. “
Matze said it was time to be pragmatic and felt it was not fair to blame him for Amazon’s ‘unprecedented’ decision to ban Parler.
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‘Especially because we have a lot of backups that we’re all dropped, so I do not think they know what they’re talking about, and I think they do. “I think there’s something else going on and I’m not sure what it is, and it does not make sense why you would wait five days to tell the employees,” said Matze.
Matze said he was asking Parler’s management to issue a joint statement on his retirement, but they resisted. After five days of silence, he wrote down the memorandum to staff members.
“I just don’t think they know what’s going on,” he said. “That’s all.”
Matze told Bartiromo that Parler would eventually have to accept many of the policy and moderation procedures he had proposed despite his termination if the platform were to return.
‘The one thing that worries me is that they will not have, such as making sure and testing and working with the engineers to make sure that the new provisions of service enforcement equipment will not have me there to make sure to make it does not come. perfect, ”he said. “It can end up being too aggressive or not aggressive enough … They need to get online as soon as possible, because every day when they are not online, they lose more and more market share.”
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Matze told Parler staff he would take a few weeks off before looking for a new business.
“I think I have a lot of opportunities,” he told Bartiromo. “Nobody thought Facebook was controversial or Twitter could compete … I think we made a significant splash in the Twitter space, so I think I have a lot of opportunities.”