Google removes Parler app from Google Play Store

Google has removed Parler, a social media app popular with Trump supporters, from the Google Play Store, making it much harder for Android users to download and access the app.

Google said in a statement that social media applications are required to have content restriction policies that remove reports that incite violence, and that reports on Parler encourage further violence following the US riot in the Capitol earlier this week.

The removal of the app comes as the violence on Trump’s supporters at the US Capitol on Wednesday, which left five dead, renew calls for social media and technology companies to moderate their platforms more closely, especially when it comes to calls for violence to inflate.

Twitter permanently banned President Donald Trump’s personal account on Friday because he believed Trump’s most recent tweets were inciting violence, while Facebook was placed by Trump later this month.

Screenshots of the Parler app seen by CNBC show users posting references to shooting groups, as well as calls to bring weapons to the presidential inauguration later this month. In its statement, Google said it had warned the app earlier this year about the content moderation policy.

Parler was launched in 2018 and it emerged earlier this year as an alternative to Trump with Twitter with less content moderation. “We are a community square, an open square without censorship,” Parler CEO John Matze said in June. “If you can say it in the streets of New York, you can say it on Parler.”

The Google Play Store is not the only way to install apps on Android phones. Users have the option of alternative app stores or a process called side-loading, which installs software without going through an app store.

The Parler app will not be removed from users’ phones, and is still available on the Internet, though the site loads Friday.

Parler did not immediately return a request for comment on the removal of the app store on Friday. Parze CEO Matze posted snippets on his social network Friday of a message from Apple indicating that Apple plans to remove the app immediately from its app store for iPhones. An Apple representative did not immediately comment.

Here’s Google’s full statement:

“To protect the safety of users on Google Play, our long-standing policy requires that apps that display user-generated content have moderation policies and applications that remove serious content such as violent incitement posts. All developers agree to these terms and we reminds Parler of this.clear policy in recent months.We are aware of the continuing placement in the Parler app that seeks to incite ongoing violence in the US.We realize that there can be reasonable debates about content policy and that it can be difficult for content, but for us to distribute an app through Google Play, we require apps to apply strong moderation to serious content. In view of this ongoing and urgent threat to public safety, we suspend list the app from the Play Store until it addresses these issues. “