The conservative social network Parler was down on Monday, January 11, the day after Amazon’s decision to cut the social network’s access to its servers because of its inability to moderate messages inciting violence. This suggests that its owners have not been able to find a new host, yet.
The site’s popularity has skyrocketed in recent days, becoming the number one free app in Apple’s App Store, after Twitter’s decision to permanently delete the account of Donald Trump, accused of having heated up. white the rioters who stormed the Capitol last week.
Messages in support of Wednesday’s attack in Washington – as well as calls for more protests – continued to mount on the platform, leading Google to remove it from its App Store on Friday, followed by Apple on Saturday. Amazon then confirmed that it was suspending the social network’s access to its hosting services. In a letter to the owners of Parler, the web giant said it would suspend the service before 11:59 p.m. Sunday due to “Violent content”.
A “war on freedom of expression”
Based in Henderson, Nevada, Parler was started by John Matze, a computer engineer, and Rebekah Mercer, a major donor to the Republican Party. John Matz confirmed on his profile on Saturday that he was “Possible that the social network is not accessible on the Internet for up to a week”.
“We will do everything to find a new supplier quickly”, he assured, accusing the giants of the Web of leading a “War on freedom of expression”, adding that they “Will NOT win!” We are the world’s last hope for freedom of expression and free information ”.
Launched in 2018, the social network works a bit like Twitter, with profiles to follow and parlys instead of Tweet. The platform attracted especially in its beginnings ultra-conservative fringes, even extreme right. But it is now welcoming more traditional Republican voices.
Fox News star Sean Hannity has 7.6 million subscribers; his colleague Tucker Carlson has 4.4 million. Republican politicians such as parliamentarian Devin Nunes and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem are also present.
