The website for the right-wing social media app Parler suddenly reappeared with a message on Sunday, just one week after Amazon suspended it from its web hosting service and Google and Apple removed it from their app stores.
“Hello world, is this thing on?” CEO John Matze wrote in a January 16 message, accompanied by a picture of an egg timer and a technical problem.
“Now seems like the right time to remind you all, both lovers and haters, why we started this platform,” continues Matze. “We believe that privacy is paramount and that freedom of speech is essential, especially on social media. Our goal has always been to provide a non-partisan public square where individuals can enjoy and exercise their rights to both.
“We will solve any challenge before us and plan to welcome you all back soon. We will not let the civil conversation go! ‘
While Parler’s website showed limited signs of life on Sunday, however, the app remains completely offline.
“Hello world, is this thing on?” CEO John Matze writes in a January 16 message, accompanied by an image of an egg timer and a ‘technical problems’ banner.
“Now seems like the right time to remind you all, both lovers and haters, why we started this platform,” continues Matze (pictured above). “We believe privacy is paramount, and freedom of speech is essential, especially on social media.”
A little over a week ago, Apple Inc. suspended Parler from its App Store, shortly after Google banned it by Google through Alphabet, in the wake of the January 6 riots in the U.S. Capitol. The app is still not available for download for both. platforms.
Amazon.com Inc then suspended Parler from its web hosting service and effectively took the website offline.
In a letter announcing Amazon, Amazon said “can not provide services to a customer who can not effectively identify and remove content that encourages or incites violence against others.”
Parler was largely blamed for not removing posts that incited violence against elected officials, including Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi. The platform was also identified as a place where people involved in the deadly assault planned the attack.
Parler has since re-registered his domain with right-wing web hosting company Epik, a company that supports websites with many right-wing governments such as Gab and 8chan.
It remains unclear who Parler’s web host is, and the company has not yet commented on this.
In a statement to CNN, Epik spokesman Robert Davis said the company does not offer Parler’s web hosting.
Davis said Epik has a zero-tolerance approach to combating racism, “and actively condemns all activities used to create hardship for others based on skin color, ethnicity, origin or belief system.”
A little over a week ago, Apple Inc. suspended Parler from its App Store, shortly after Google banned it by Google through Alphabet, in the wake of the January 6 riots in the U.S. Capitol. The app is still not available for download for both. platforms
Amazon.com Inc then suspended Parler from its web hosting service and effectively took the website offline unless he could find a new company offering his services.
Last week, Parler disappeared from the internet with an error message saying ‘we can not connect to the server’ after Amazon pulled the plug
The app was removed from the Google app store after conservative social media users flocked to the site following the attack on Capitol.
Earlier on January 11, Epik issued a lengthy statement calling for a ‘knee-jerk reaction’ from people like Google and Amazon, because he simply broke up and ended a relationship that seemed problematic or controversial.
Parler sued Amazon last week, claiming that the suspension of the company’s online hosting service violated the antitrust law and violated the companies’ contracts.
According to the platform’s complaint, Amazon has accused it of applying a double standard to Parler and reducing competition in the market for microblogging services in favor of Twitter.
Advocates for the e-commerce giant issued a statement days later defending the decision, saying Parler had ‘unwillingness and inability’ to remove content that ‘threatened public safety’, such as inciting and planning rape. , torture and assassination of nominated public officials and private citizens. ‘
A Tuesday court filed with Amazon said the company had repeatedly “informed” Parler that its contents violated their agreement and requested that it be removed, “only to determine that Parler was not willing to to do so. ‘
John Matze founded Parler in 2018 as a ‘speech-driven’ alternative to mainstream platforms. He is in the picture with his family
Right-wing social media users flocked to Parler, along with other apps like Telegram and the social networking site Gab, citing the more aggressive policing of political commentary on major platforms like Twitter and Facebook, which has increased since the Capitol riots.
According to a court hearing by Matze on Friday, the chief executive was forced to flee his home after receiving death threats following the riots.
His lawyer, David Groesbeck, wrote in the document that Matze “had to hide with his family after receiving death threats and intrusive personal security breaches.”
The lawsuit comes as part of Parler’s antitrust case against Amazon and sought to seal parts of the suit as a security measure.
Five people were killed in the DC riots on January 6, including a Capitol police officer who was hit in the head with a fire extinguisher and a woman who was shot dead by law enforcement officers while trying to get through a blocked door force.
President Trump himself has seen a number of his accounts suspended indefinitely by a number of social media companies – including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube – due to his alleged part in inciting the insurgency.