“The processes Parler has put in place to mitigate or prevent the spread of dangerous and illegal content have proven insufficient,” Apple told Parler. “In particular, we have continued to identify direct threats of violence and calls to instigate lawless action in violation of Guideline 1.1 – Security – Offensive Content.”
According to Apple, Parler’s responses to an earlier warning were inadequate, including Parler’s defense that it had been taking the violent rhetoric on its platform “very seriously” for weeks and that it had “for now” a moderation plan, “Apple said.
“Parler has not taken adequate steps to address the spread of these threats to human security,” Apple said in a statement to CNN Business. “We have suspended Parler from the App Store until they fix these issues.”
John Matze, Parler’s CEO, wrote in a post on its platform that Apple “will ban Parler until we give up freedom of speech, implement broad and invasive policies like Twitter and Facebook, and become a surveillance platform by pursuing guilt of those who use Parler for innocence. “
“They claim it is due to violence on the platform,” Matze wrote of Apple, who he also accused of being a “software monopoly,” a particularly pertinent attack given an ongoing antitrust case against Apple by Fortnite creator Epic. Games. “The community disagrees as we are number 1 in their store today.”
Matze promised to “share more details about our next plans soon as we have many options”.