- Parler CEO John Matze said he was fired by the company’s management, Fox Business reported on Wednesday.
- The app was recently taken offline after Amazon, Google and Apple launched it from their platforms.
- It was scrutinized after the riot in Capitol for allowing violent speech.
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Parler CEO John Matze said employees’ board of directors fired him last week, Fox Business reported on Wednesday.
“On January 29, 2021, the Parler board governed by Rebekah Mercer decided to terminate my position as CEO of Parler immediately. I did not participate in this decision,” Matze said in a memorandum, according to Fox. said: “I understand that those who now control the company have communicated to employees and other third parties which unfortunately created confusion and asked me to make this public statement.”
Parler, a social media app popular with the far right, is funded by Rebekah Mercer, a conservative megadonor whose family was among the most influential supporters of then-candidate Donald Trump in 2016.
The company was scrutinized after the Capitol uprising as evidence emerged that the rioters used Parler and other platforms to coordinate the attack.
Under public pressure, Apple and Google Parler removed from their app stores, saying they still allow content that threatens to increase violence, in violation of their policies. Shortly thereafter, Amazon removed Parler’s access to its web hosting services, and other tech companies refused to do business with it, effectively taking the platform offline.
Read more: Within the rapid and mysterious rise of Parler, the Twitter alternative to ‘free speech’, which created a platform for conservatives by burning the Silicon Valley script.
Matze put the media in the spotlight amid the industry’s reaction, and repeatedly defended the company’s lax approach to moderating the content, saying it would be online again by the end of January.
It has since tried to return using additional service providers such as a Russian technology company with links to racist, far-right and conspiracy theory sites.
Far-right and conservative users have flocked to Parler over the past few months in protest of other social media applications inciting misinformation, hate speech and attempted violence. The app was downloaded millions of times in the days after the November election, which jumped to first place in the App Store.