A congressional oversight committee is investigating whether Parler has financial ties to Russian entities, citing reports that the right-wing social network “made Russian disinformation flourish” before the election and offered calls for violence before a Trump-incited mob blamed the Capitol stormed in January. 6. The chairman of the committee today sent a letter to Jeffrey Wernick, COO, of Parler, demanding documents on Parler’s ownership, possible ties with Russian individuals or entities, and negotiations on Parler and the Trump organization.
“Parler allegedly allowed Russian disinformation to flourish on his platform ahead of the November 2020 election, facilitating Russia’s campaign to wreak havoc on US voters,” said US Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), chairwoman of the House Committee on Supervision and Reform, facilitated. , wrote in the letter to Wernick. “Although similar disinformation was removed by other social media platforms, it was allowed to remain on Parler. When U.S. host services severed ties with Parler because they repeatedly failed to moderate content that advocated violence, Parler again became a Russian hosting service, DDos-Guard., which has ties to the Russian government and considers the Russian Ministry of Defense to be one of its clients. ‘
Maloney also quoted a BuzzFeed report as saying, “The Trump organization negotiated on behalf of then-President Donald Trump to make Parler its primary social network, but it had one condition: ownership in exchange for entry. ‘ Parler offered Trump’s company a 40 percent stake, but negotiations “were finally derailed by the events of Jan. 6,” the report said.
“These negotiations allegedly took place while President Trump was still in office, warning experts that it raises legal concerns about anti-bribery laws,” Maloney wrote.
Parler users asked for a civil war
In the weeks before January 6, “users of Parler actively turned to the platform to call for violence and even ‘civil war’,” Maloney wrote. She also described an increase in calls for violence against Parler just after Trump on January 6 during a rally before his supporters stormed the Capitol.
“A recent analysis by USA Today shows a strong link between President Trump’s speech during the January 6 protests and a significant increase in calls for violence against Parler,” Maloney wrote to Wernick. “Immediately after President Trump urged his supporters to ‘show strength’ during his speech, the term ‘civil war’ rose to one of the five most widely used terms on Parler. One user wrote: ‘Be men fighting back and f– – them up. The civil war is upon us. “
Maloney noted that “numerous users of Parler were arrested and charged for their roles” in the January 6 mob, “while the Department of Justice cited in several cases the threats made by individuals by Parler in the days before and after the attack. “
Parler’s co-founder and CEO John Matze was recently fired.
Looking for information on ownership of Parler
Parler urged Parler to comply with her request for documents, pointing to the oversight committee’s “broad authority to investigate” any matter “at” any time “under House Rule X.” Maloney also referred to legislation she had submitted to help law enforcement agencies obtain ownership information for opaque corporate entities as part of their January 6 Capitol assault investigation. People with ties to the January 6 assault should not – and should not – be allowed to hide behind the veil of anonymity provided by shell companies. ‘
Maloney asked Wernick to respond by February 22 with the following documents:
- A capitalization table showing individuals and entities with direct or indirect ownership interests in Parler, and a shareholder register maintained by you or any third party on your behalf;
- A list of all individuals and entities that have or have had control over Parler;
- A list of Parler’s creditors who own or possess a debt of at least $ 10,000, including the type of debt financing, amount due, maturity date and applicable interest rate;
- All agreements, including but not limited to consulting, service or business agreements, that Parler has with any Russian individual or entity;
- All documents and communications relating to or relating to proposed or completed financing, gifts or investment in Parler directly or indirectly by any Russian individual or entity; and
- All documents and communications referred to [or] regarding a proposal to give President Donald Trump an ownership in Parler.
We contacted Parler today about Maloney’s letter and will update this article as we respond. Parler, which was cut off by Amazon Web Services on January 10, remains online only as a static web page with a few posts and a comment on ‘technical issues’.