In the aftermath of the Capitol riots two weeks ago, a number of major tech companies have drawn support for Parler, a Twitter-like social network that has increasingly benefited Donald Trump’s supporters since its launch in 2018. Apple and Google have launched the Parler app remove their digital stores. and Amazon Web Services reduced the platform’s hosting services. After more than a week offline, the site is now partially backed up, in the form of a landing page that promises a full return. To get even this far, Parler has hired DDoS-Guard, a Russian digital infrastructure company, to defend itself against the endless attacks that virtually all websites encounter online – especially those as controversial as Parler.
DDoS-Guard told WIRED that it only provides defense against denial of service attacks and not Parler’s website. But even the level of support requires access to all the traffic flowing through Parler so that it can “scrub” malicious traffic aimed at overwhelming the site. Given the Russian government’s concerted efforts to isolate the country’s internet and access all data, Parler could expose its users to Russian surveillance if the site once again fully restarts with DDoS-Guard.
“Now seems like the right time to remind you all, both lovers and haters, why we started this platform,” Parler’s homepage currently states. “We believe that privacy is important and freedom of speech is essential. We will solve any challenge that lies ahead and plan to welcome you again soon.”
Parler’s chief operating officer, Jeffrey Wernick, says The New York Times Tuesday that the social network would prefer the providers in the US and is finding it. The platform registered its domain through Epik in Seattle. But while the biggest names in Parler’s U.S. technology industry differ from those of more than 12 million users, making the platform too large for most small hosts. The local options are therefore sparse.
Embracing DDoS-Guard, even as a stopgap, Parler joins a growing list of far-right sites like 8kun (formerly 8chan) and the Daily Stormer that beat US infrastructure companies offline, only to lure companies into countries with limited internet freedom see – like DDoS-Guard – enables them again.
“At this time, Parler.com does not violate our acceptable usage policies or current US law to the best of our knowledge,” DDoS-Guard said in a statement to WIRED. “DDoS-Guard stores customer data in a responsible manner without disclosing it to third parties. In addition, the provider only stores information that is required for the service and that is explicitly provided by the customers. ”
But Russia has enacted laws that oblige technology companies to comply with government requests, and it has used physical network infrastructure to monitor everything from the IP addresses of Internet users and communications to the location of data. The use of Russian infrastructure services could expose users of a website to the country’s surveillance schemes, says Alp Toker, director of the non-partisan detection group NetBlocks. Most posts on Parler are meant to be public, but the platform also offers a direct messaging feature and numerous types of “verified” accounts, including red badges for anyone uploading an image of their government identification card. All of this information, as well as details about user activity and IP addresses of users, will likely be exposed to the Kremlin if Parler returns with the same features while sending his data through Russian servers.
No matter where Parler ends up, it’s likely to find a home somewhere. The decentralized design of the Internet helps to ensure connection, but it also makes it difficult to prevent people or platforms from becoming silent. Even oppressive governments in countries like Iran and China have struggled with the logistics of fully controlling a local internet.