(Reuters) – Parler, a social media service popular with US right-wing users who virtually disappeared after the US riot in the Capitol, re-launched on Monday, saying its new platform was built on ‘sustainable, independent technology’.
In a statement announcing the resettlement, Parler also said he had appointed Mark Meckler as its interim CEO, replacing John Matze who was sacked by the board this month.
Parler went dark after being cut off by major service providers who accused the app of not policing violent content related to the deadly January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-US President Donald Trump.
Despite the reboot, the site still did not open to many users and the app was not available for download in mobile stores owned by Apple and Google, owned by Alphabet, which had previously banned the app.
While several users compete with Twitter to complain that they do not have access to the service, a few others said they could access their existing account.
Parler, who claims to have once had more than 20 million users, said he would bring his current users back online in the first week and be open to new users next week.
The app, which was founded in 2018, has designed itself as a ‘speech-driven’ space and has largely attracted American conservatives who do not agree with rules around content on other social media sites.
Last month, Amazon.com suspended Parler from its web hosting service and effectively took the site offline. Parler said Monday his new technology cuts his reliance on ‘so-called Big Tech’ for his operations.
Parler appears to be using CloudRoute LLC as its new host and has replaced Amazon according to open source software platform Ceph here to anonymous computer programmer “Crash override” who goes along with the Twitter handle @donk_enby.
The programmer, who has been known since the day of the riot in Capitol for cataloging almost all the posts of users in Parler, tweeted on Monday that user accounts are still in the new platform, but that messages, images and videos have been deleted .
Parler and CloudRoute did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“Parler is managed by an experienced team and is here to stay,” Meckler said. He was co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots, a group that originated in 2009 in the fiscally conservative Tea Party movement and helped elect dozens of Republicans.
It is also supported by hedge fund investor Robert Mercer, his daughter Rebekah Mercer and conservative commentator Dan Bongino.
Reporting by Ayanti Bera in Bengaluru and Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm; Edited by Howard Goller