SAN FRANCISCO – Parler, the social network that drew millions of Trump supporters before disappearing from the Internet, is back online a month after Amazon and other technology giants cut off the company due to calls for violence surrounding the riot in Capitol.
By freezing the tech giants, it made Parler a case for conservatives who complained about being censored, as well as a test case for the openness of the internet. It was unclear whether the social network, which positioned itself as a speech-free position and a light-hearted moderated website, could survive after the black tech companies blacklisted it.
For weeks it seemed that the answer was no. But on Monday, for the first time since January 10, parler.com typed into a web browser to return a page to log in to the social network – a step that required the work of the small business and which led to the departure. of its CEO.
Parler executives on Monday did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
It was unclear how Parler figured out how to host his website on computer servers, the central technology that supports any website. Many of the big web hosting companies have rejected this before. For other services needed to run a large site, Parler relied on the help of a Russian firm that once worked for the Russian government and a Seattle firm that once supported a neo-Nazi site.
Parler’s return appears to be a victory for small businesses challenging the dominance of Big Tech. The company tried to voice its fate over the power of companies such as Amazon, which stopped hosting Parler’s website on its computer servers, and Apple and Google, which removed Parler’s mobile app from their app stores.
Parler has become a hub for right-wing conversations over the past year, as millions of people have flocked to the far right of the platform over what they see as censorship of conservative voices by Facebook, Twitter and Google. Much of Parler’s content was benign, but months before the January 6 Capitol riots, there were also calls for violence, hate speech and misinformation.
Days after the riot, Amazon, Apple and Google said they cut Parler off because it showed they could not consistently apply its own rules against posts that incited violence. Apple and Google have said they will allow Parler’s app to return if the company can prove it can effectively police its social network.
After Amazon started Parler from its web hosting service, Parler sued it, accusing him of antitrust violations and breaking his contract. A federal judge said last month that Amazon’s contract allows for termination of service and that it does not want to force the company to keep Parler, as the startup requested.
Parler had more than 15 million users when it went offline and was one of the fastest growing programs in the United States. It is largely funded by Rebekah Mercer, one of the Republican Party’s biggest benefactors.
John Matze, co-founder and CEO of Parler, said earlier this month that Mercer had effectively fired him over disagreements over the management of the site. Me. Mercer has appointed Mark Meckler, a leading voice in the Tea Party movement, to run Parler.