Stagwell Group President and Managing Partner Mark Penn discusses Elected President Joe Biden’s stimulus proposal and censorship on social media.
EXCLUSIVE Parler terminated CEO John Matze, according to a memo Matze sent to Fox News staff.
“On January 29, 2021, the Parler board under the leadership of Rebekah Mercer decided to terminate my position as CEO of Parler immediately. I did not participate in this decision,” Matze wrote. “I understand that those who now control the company made some communication to employees and other third parties that unfortunately caused confusion and asked me to make this public statement.”
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Parler terminated CEO John Matze, according to a memo Matze sent to staff obtained by Fox News. (Photo by Jaap Arriens / NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Matze wrote that he had ‘sustained resistance’ over the past few months to his original vision on the social media platform following Amazon Web Services’ decision to shut down Parler due to its failure to moderate ‘serious’ related content with the 6th of January. Riots of the Capitol.
“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 content moderation, “Matze wrote.
Parler did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“I worked endless hours and constantly fought to get the Parler yard up and running, but at this point, the future of Parler is no longer in my hands,” he continued. “I want to thank the Parler employees, the people of Parler and Parler supporters for their tireless work and dedication to the business. They are an incredible group of diverse, hardworking and talented individuals and I have the utmost respect for them. Many of them became my second family. ‘
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Parler, a social media app that has been widely embraced by Trump supporters for favoring freedom of speech, has seen an increase in users following Twitter’s permanent suspension of President Trump.
Parler has been down since Amazon Web Services shut it down and was expected to restart before early February, but things have been delayed. A Parler resident told Fox News the delay was caused by new brands and changes taking place within the company for the sake of stability.
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Matze has emerged as a star of the conservative media amid the chaos surrounding his company taken offline by Amazon, and has regularly appeared on cable news to defend freedom of speech.
Matze told staff members he would take a few weeks off before looking for a new business.
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“After that, I will look for new opportunities where my technical insight, vision and the causes I am passionate about are required and respected,” he wrote. “I want to thank all the people from Parler who supported me and the platform. It was the real American dream: an idea from a living room to a business of considerable value. I’m not saying goodbye, just so long for now . “
In addition to Amazon, Google and Apple have both suspended Parler from their respective app stores.