- Parler registered his domain with Epik, a company known for hosting other far-right sites, including Gab.
- Epik said in a statement that Parler had registered his domain with the company, but that the companies were not in contact.
- Parler denied allegations that it had become a refuge for the far right, but threats related to the Capitol uprising flourished on the platform.
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After Amazon Web Services (AWS) severed ties with Parler, citing the history of the social media platform on the presentation of extremist extremist content that contributed to the riots Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol, the social platform apparently has a new home found.
Parler registered his domain with Epik, a company known for hosting other far-right sites, including Gab, according to the available WHOIS information. The news was first reported by James Iles, an author whose blog focuses on domain names.
In a statement released on Monday, Epik said the company “had no contact with and or any conversation with Parler” before the site registered its domain with them. Epik added that “to date no communication has been received by them for discussion of future service delivery.”
The statement goes against social media companies because of their heightened moderation. “The staggering size of Twitter and Facebook alone has made real change or accountability almost impossible, as the political interests and goals of their own managers ultimately create an unmistakable double standard for both policing and enforcement,” writes Robert Davis, SVP of Epik, and appears to refer to the platforms’ decisions to ban President Donald Trump.
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.
Parler sued Amazon for cessation of service, alleging antitrust violations and claiming the ban was politically motivated. Without AWS to host the platform, Parler is offline Monday. As of Tuesday, the website will not be available. Before AWS Parler dropped on Sunday, the app version of the platform was removed by the Google and Apple app stores.
Parler denied allegations that his platform offered extremist content, but an insider investigation found that the platform had appealed to the far right from its earliest days. Insiders also found that violent threats related to the uprising at the Capitol spread unabashedly on Parler before, during and after the fatal incident.
Parler finds a ‘refuge’ at Epik, as Vice reports, comes to the history of the company to provide the right content. Gab, a far-right Facebook alternative, and Bitchute, a far-right YouTube alternative, both work with Epik. The company previously hosted 8chan, now 8kun, the outward message board that was popular among violent extremists. Infowars, the website of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, is also registered with Epik.
The Southern Poverty Law Center wrote in 2019 that Epik has taken the market by storm on sites where hate speech flourishes, and Epik CEO Rob Monster defends the rights of neo-Nazis to gather online, HuffPost said in 2018 reported.
This article has been updated so that Infowars is registered with Epik.