The website for right-wing social media app Parler suddenly reappeared with a message on Sunday, just a 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 message dated Jan. 16, accompanied by an image of an egg timer and a banner saying ‘technical issues’.
“Now seems like the right time to remind all of you – loved ones and haters alike – why we started this platform,” Matze continued. ‘We believe that privacy comes first and freedom of expression is essential, especially on social media. Our goal has always been to provide an impartial public square where individuals can enjoy and exercise their rights to both.
We will solve any challenge that lies ahead and plan to welcome you all soon. We will not let the bourgeois language perish! ‘
While Parler’s website showed limited signs of life on Sunday, the app remains completely offline.
“Hello world, is this thing on?” CEO John Matze wrote in a message dated Jan. 16, accompanied by an image of an egg timer and a ‘technical issues’ banner
“Now seems like the right time to remind all of you – loved ones and haters alike – why we started this platform,” Matze continued (pictured above). ‘We believe that privacy comes first and freedom of speech is essential, especially on social media’
Just over a week ago, Apple Inc suspended the Parler from the App Store shortly after Alphabet-owned Google banned it from Google Play following the January 6 riot in the Capitol. The app still cannot be downloaded on both platforms.
Amazon.com Inc subsequently suspended Parler from its web hosting service, effectively taking the site offline.
In a letter announcing the move, Amazon said it “cannot provide services to a customer who is unable to effectively identify and remove content that encourages or incites violence against others.”
Parler was largely blamed for not removing posts inciting violence against elected officials, including Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi. The platform was also identified as a site where people participating in the deadly attack planned the attack.
Parler has since re-registered his domain with right-wing web hosting company Epik, a company that supports far-right sites such as Gab and 8chan.
It remains unclear who Parler’s web host is as the company has not commented on it yet.
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 the fight against racism, “and actively condemns any activities used to cause hardship for others based on skin color, ethnicity, race, or belief system.”
Just over a week ago, Apple Inc suspended the Parler from the App Store shortly after Alphabet-owned Google banned it from Google Play following the January 6 riot in the Capitol. The app still cannot be downloaded on both platforms
Amazon.com Inc has subsequently suspended Parler from its web hosting service, effectively taking the site offline unless it can find a new company to host its services
Last week, Parler disappeared from the internet with an ‘we can’t connect to the server’ error after Amazon pulled the plug
The app was removed from the Google App Store after conservative social media users flocked to the site in the wake of the Capitol attack
Epik released a lengthy statement earlier on Jan. 11, calling by the likes of Google and Amazon a “ knee jerk reaction ” for “ simply de-platforming and ending any relationship that seems problematic or controversial at first glance. ”
Parler last week sued Amazon, claiming that its suspension of the company’s online hosting service violated antitrust laws and the companies’ contracts.
The platform’s complaint accused Amazon of applying a politically-motivated double standard to Parler and “ reducing competition in the market for microblogging services in favor of Twitter. ”
Lawyers for the e-commerce giant made a statement days later defending the decision, saying that Parler had demonstrated an “ unwillingness and inability ” to remove content that “ threatens public safety, such as inciting and planning rape , torture and murder of named government officials and individuals. ‘
A court complaint from Amazon on Tuesday said the company had “ repeatedly ” informed Parler that the content violated their agreement and requested removal, “ only to determine that Parler neither wanted nor could. ”
John Matze founded Parler in 2018 as a ‘free voice-controlled’ alternative to mainstream platforms. He is depicted with his family
Right-wing social media users have flocked to Parler, along with other apps like Telegram and social site Gab, citing the more aggressive scrutiny of political comments on mainstream platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, which has intensified since the uprising at the Capitol.
A court complaint on Friday by Matze claimed the CEO was forced to flee his home after receiving death threats in the wake of the riots.
His lawyer, David Groesbeck, wrote in the document that Matze “had to go into hiding with his family after death threats and invasive breaches of personal security.”
The filing came as part of Parler’s antitrust case against Amazon and attempted to seal parts of the suit as a security measure.
Five people died in the January 6 DC riots, including a Capitol Police officer who was hit in the head with a fire extinguisher, and a woman who was shot by police while trying to force her way through a barricaded door.
President Trump himself has seen a number of his accounts indefinitely suspended by a host of social media companies – including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube – for his alleged part in instigating the insurgency.