How would you handle being cancelled by ‘Big Tech’? Ask Parler, they’ve reeled in a new web service host and are back in action!
Parler came under heavy fire by the mainstream media during the presidential transition between President Trump and then President-Elect Biden. A spew of misinformation and calls for violence infiltrated the social media site, and along came exceptional scrutiny. With a mass spread of lies hiding whatever formal evidence-backed claims there could’ve been on Parler, the attention aimed at Parler was nothing more than negative.
Parler was being deemed partially responsible by the media for the planning of the Capitol Building takeover in Washington by supporters of President Trump, who believed the President’s claims of voter fraud were not being rightfully investigated and judged by the U.S. Law & Supreme Court. This was enough to see Parler shutdown by its advisories days after the insurrection, when Google, Apple, and Amazon took the initiative to cut off access to Parler. Big Tech proposed Parler had not done enough to stop threats of violence running amuck on its site. Apple and Google suspended Parler from their smartphone app stores, and Amazon booted the site from its Web-hosting service, citing repeated rule violations relatively quickly following the Capitol building takeover on January 6th.
Amazon filed manifests that showed they had warned Parler in late 2020 about foul and threatening language on its site before shutting down the platform after the takeover of the U.S. Capitol building. In a court filing, Parler said that Amazon had not provided proof that the platform was used to incite and organize the January 6, 2021 Capitol Building events.
The moderators of Parler were slammed for not deleting and censoring hateful posts and discussions happening on Parler aimed at the presidential election and transition. After the Presidential election in November of 2020, Parler grew its user base from 4.5 million to 10 million almost overnight. After the resurrection of Parler in mid-February, the company now claims to have a user base consisting of 20 million accounts. This uprise in users comes from the recent censorship of accounts across the major social media sites that were pushing the narrative that Joe Biden won the election through the likes of voter fraud. Many accounts of neutral independent news commentators, such as Tim Pool, were partially and fully censored on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, as these restrictions of accounts for people who oppose the left-sided political agenda of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey were deemed a “threat” to democracy and to the rules of the Big Tech giants.
Graph depicting rise in Parler downloads during the 2020 presidential election
With great censorship comes great responsibility. Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook are losing users everyday as it has become clear that the moderators or AI that overlook the ‘Big Tech’ platforms are shadow banning and removing posts under false accusations. The Progressive media outlet Status Coup has been one of the many victims of this robotic rule of appropriation. YouTube had removed Status Coup’s live video stream of the Capitol Hill riots under the allegations that the footage was “advancing claims of election fraud.” This same footage captured by Status Coup cameraman Jon Farina, was licensed and used by mainstream news conglomerates, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and The Associated Press. When your similar-thinking media outlets use the footage, it's alright. When a “rival” side uses it, it’s a threat to democracy.
It is not only neutral and right-wing accounts that have been affected by this surge of Big Tech censorship. For plenty of left-wing YouTube channels have been demonetized and restricted on their ways of making a living. Left-wing YouTube channels "The Progressive Soap Box", hosted by Jamarl Thomas; "Political Vigilante", hosted by progressive commentator Graham Elwood; and the channel "Franc Analysis," have all had videos demonetized, with the host of Franc Analysis having allegedly had money taken from him by YouTube when he did not receive the donations from the “super chats” on his videos. What would the Founding Fathers of this country think of Big Tech censorship? I think they wouldn’t be having any of it, for let’s not forget this country was founded by dangerous and courageous men.
‘Franc Analysis’ Host’s allegations towards YouTube via Twitter https://twitter.com/B43Franco/status/1357421991838556162?s=20 https://twitter.com/B43Franco/status/1357424603090587650?s=20
The existential rise of Parler would not be possible without disintegrating trust in government and mainstream media by the American people. A mass array of agenda-based news outlets on TV and online, not to mention mass amounts of misinformation that has echoed during recent US elections has raised interests in apps such as Parler. Whether or not Parler stays up to par with social media standards, the long-term beliefs that brought it to the front lines in the battle for free speech will remain. The company fired former CEO John Matze in early February of 2021, after claims he had a disagreement with Parler doner Rebekah Mercer over the future of unregulated speech on the site.
Parler's executive board is currently conducting a search for a permanent CEO, according to the company. Mark Meckler, one of the early creators of the Tea Party movement, is now Parler's interim CEO. Meckler is an attorney, entrepreneur, and free speech advocate and Parler says he was appointed to help navigate the app through the relaunch process and the near future. With Meckler now in place as interim CEO, Parler shocked millions with a revival that many had already written off. Parler lost their Amazon hosting services but spired a new relationship with their new web service host, SkySilk.
SkySilk is a Web infrastructure company based in Chatsworth, California. Their chief executive, Kevin Matossian, confirmed to NPR in an interview that they are now hosting the web services for Parler after they were drowned out by Big Tech.
"SkySilk is well aware that Parler has received an aggressive response from those who believe their platform has been used as a safe haven for some bad actors," Matossian said in a statement. "Let me be clear, Skysilk does not advocate nor condone hate, rather, it advocates the right to private judgment and rejects the role of being the judge, jury, and executioner."
While many are on the fence and certainly not on board with some of Parler's content, Matossian believes the company is taking "necessary steps" to monitor this resurgenced app.
"Once again, this is not a matter of SkySilk endorsing the message, but rather, the right of the messenger to deliver it. SkySilk will support Parler in their efforts to be a nonpartisan Public Square as we are convinced this is the only appropriate course of action," Mattossian said in a statement.
Interim CEO gives an update on Parler. Feb. 15, 2021
Parler has said in its newly updated content guidelines that they will deploy a "privacy-preserving process" using an algorithm and human moderators to patrol content that threatens or incites violence. These guidelines, according to Parler, will in fact be "viewpoint neutral," unlike that of mainstream media and social media sites. Parler said it will act on any attempts to use the platform to carry out any form of crime. The company also said there will be an appeals process for users who believe their posts have been taken down or limited in interaction due to error, again unlike any of the mainstream social media sites that many a time have removed and banned posts & people with no explanation or evidence-based reasoning.
Furthermore, Parler says there will be a filter on the site known as a ”trolling filter” in which content that attacks people based on personal orientations or religious affiliations will be covered up and limited in its interactions with other users. For those that want to view the content, the option remains for they will be allowed to view the content by clicking through the filter.
Parler interim CEO Mark Meckler, in a statement, said Parler's new platform is built on "robust, sustainable, independent technology," not really going into specifics. “Parler has been rebuilt on independent technology and is not reliant on so-called 'Big Tech' for its operations."
"Parler is being run by an experienced team and is here to stay," Meckler expressed. "We will thrive as the premier social media platform dedicated to free speech, privacy and civil dialogue."
"When Parler was taken offline in January by those who desire to silence tens of millions of Americans, our team came together, determined to keep our promise to our highly engaged community that we would return stronger than ever," Meckler stated. "We're thrilled to welcome everyone back.”
As I’m sure Parler executives are glad the app is up and running once again for its millions of users, I’m sure more Americans are relieved that ‘Big Tech’ media monopolies are not in complete control of the livelihood of other media and social media sites. May this wonderful and free country known as the United States of America remain free for generations to come, for censorship is where tyranny is birthed.
Comments