In the wake After the Capitol riots two weeks ago, a number of major tech companies pulled support for Parler, a Twitter-like social network increasingly favored by Donald Trump supporters since its launch in 2018. Apple and Google have announced the Parler app from their digital stores, and Amazon Web Services have discontinued the platform’s hosting services. After being offline for over a week, the site is now partially up to date again, in the form of a landing page that promises a full return. To even get that far, Parler has hired DDoS-Guard, a Russian digital infrastructure company, to defend it against the endless barrage of attacks affecting virtually all sites online – especially those as controversial as Parler.
DDoS-Guard told WIRED that it only protects against denial-of-service attacks and does not host Parler’s site. But even that support level requires access to all traffic flowing through Parler, so it can ‘clean up’ malicious traffic that aims to overwhelm the site. Given the active efforts of the Russian government to isolate the country’s internet and access all data, Parler could expose its users to Russian scrutiny if the site one day starts all over again with DDoS-Guard.
“Now seems like the right time to remind you all – loved ones and haters alike – why we started this platform,” Parler’s homepage currently announces. “We believe privacy is paramount and freedom of expression is essential … We will resolve any challenge that lies ahead and we plan to welcome you all again soon.”
Parler’s chief operating officer, Jeffrey Wernick, told me The New York Times Tuesday that the social network favors US-based providers and is working to find them. The platform registered its domain through Seattle based Epik. But while Parler has been shunned by the biggest names in the US tech industry, it claims to have over 12 million users, making the platform too big for most small hosts. So domestic options are scarce.
By embracing DDoS-Guard, even as a stopgap, Parler joins a growing list of far-right sites like 8kun (formerly 8chan) and the Daily Stormer that have taken US infrastructure companies offline, only to see companies in countries with limited internet freedom— like DDoS-Guard – make their re-emergence possible.
“At this time, Parler.com is not in violation of our acceptable use policy or current US law to our knowledge,” DDoS-Guard said in a statement to WIRED. “DDoS Guard responsibly stores customer data without disclosing it to third parties. In addition, the provider only stores information that is necessary for the service and that is explicitly provided by the customers. “
But Russia has passed laws forcing technology companies to comply with government requests, and it has implemented a physical network infrastructure to monitor everything from web users’ IP addresses and communications to location data. The use of Russian infrastructure services could expose a site’s users to the country’s surveillance schemes, said Alp Toker, director of the impartial connectivity tracking group NetBlocks. Most messages on Parler are meant to be public, but the platform also offered a direct messaging feature and numerous types of “verified” accounts, including red badges for anyone uploading an image of their ID. All this information, as well as detailed data on user activity and users’ IP addresses, could potentially be exposed to the Kremlin if Parler returns with the same functions while sending its data through Russian servers.
Regardless of where Parler eventually lands, it seems likely to find a home somewhere. The decentralized design of the internet provides connectivity, but also makes it difficult to avoid silencing people or platforms. Even repressive governments in countries like Iran and China have grappled with the logistics of fully controlling a regional Internet.