As Twitter and Facebook became increasingly willing to label or fact check Trump’s content in recent months, some Republican lawmakers and media figures, like South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem and conservative radio personality Mark Levin, encouraged supporters to follow them on Parler. Yet because of its narrower focus on right-wing users seeking more freedom from the big tech company’s rules, some Parler users complained that it felt like an echo chamber of like-minded people rather than a place to engage in the debate -- or conflict -- that has become a hallmark of Twitter’s service. Trump himself doesn’t have a Parler account.
While Facebook and Twitter have stricter content policies, those networks were also found to have hosted users planning the mob violence at the Capitol, including those who directed large followings to shift over to Parler. When it permanently axed Trump’s account, Twitter said it saw evidence of new riots planned for Jan. 17, while Facebook said it has so far taken down 600 militarized social groups, and was banning posts from those saying they planned to take weapons to government buildings.
The platforms’ artificial intelligence has been improving at catching offending posts, in some cases before they are seen by a significant number of users. Even if the mainstream apps didn’t aggressively take down such content, the overwhelming volume of posts and users also probably means they’d be unlikely to face Parler-level scrutiny from app stores.
“Perfect moderation is impossible but there’s a difference between trying and not trying,” wrote Benedict Evans, an independent technology analyst and former partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, on Twitter. “And these problems are independent of business model -- they apply to every network and model.”
Parler CEO Matze encouraged users to find workarounds, like using the website on a browser or installing the app on Android phones through online stores besides Google Play. He also told them to cancel their Amazon subscriptions, dump Apple, and to “call, write and email your congressman and senators and expose this anti-competitive behavior.”
On Sunday, after the crackdown on his app, Matze issued a statement to clarify his earlier comments.
“In an interview this week, some believe I gave the impression that I somehow did not care whether Parler is used to incite violence. I want to set the record straight: That interpretation could not be further from the truth,” he said. “We do not condone or accept violence on our platform and we never will.”
He said Parler’s community guidelines expressly prohibit threats of violence or incitement, and the company has been working to enforce the rules.
Even as its technological backbone is disabled by the tech giants, Parler may continue to exist on a smaller scale. Google restricted Gab, another “free speech”-branded site popular with right-wing extremists, in 2017 for violating its hate speech policy. In 2018, Gab was banned by domain provider GoDaddy.com and PayPal after an anti-Semitic user shot 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue. Since the Capitol insurrection, Gab has been tweeting about such bans as a badge of honor, and noting that it’s seen a surge in users and job applications, necessitating new servers to keep the site running.
“The paradigm shift to new platforms that support free speech will happen overnight,” Gab’s account tweeted. To Parler’s Matze, Gab said: “Best of luck, sincerely.”
-With assistance from Amy Thomson.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.