Parler Is Back Online With New Plan That Doesn’t Rely On ‘Big Tech’

Henderson, NV – Free speech social media app Parler announced Monday that it was back up and running using a new web hosting service.

Parler said in a press release on Feb. 15 that the app had been rebuilt “on sustainable, independent technology and not reliant on so-called ‘Big Tech’ for its operations,” KSNV reported.

“Parler is being run by an experienced team and is here to stay,” Parler Interim CEO Mark Meckler said. “We will thrive as the premier social media platform dedicated to free speech, privacy, and civil dialogue.”

Follow Blue Lives Matter on Parler.

Meckler, who is known for his role in the Tea Party movement, replaced former CEO John Matze after Parler was effectively shut down by Amazon Web Services (AWS) without warning in January, The New York Times reported.

Matze announced he was fired by the app’s financial backer, Rebekah Mercer, in early February.

The split came as a result of differences over how to run the app, according to The New York Times.

The social media app had already been kicked off Apple and Google’s app stores two days before it was deplatformed by AWS because the executives had refused to censor users’ speech.

The new website showed that Parler is now partnered with a Los Angeles firm called SkySilk, The New York Times reported.

Parler initially faced harsh criticism for using a Russian firm to assist with security after they were deplatformed by AWS.

The controversial app also became a target of politicians in the wake of the Capitol riot.

U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-New York) sent a letter to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Chris Wray and asked him to look into what role Parler may have played in orchestrating the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, NBC News reported.

Parler gained enormous popularity with conservatives as an uncensored alternative after Facebook and Twitter began shutting down accounts citing concerns about harmful content.

But now the House Oversight chair wants the new entity hosting Parler to be investigated, The Washington Post reported.

Maloney, in her letter to Wray, suggested that Parler’s use of a Russian-owned web services company could make the social media app vulnerable to data requests by Russian agencies.

DDoS-Guard, who was slotted to host Parler’s second incarnation, also has Russian government clients, The Washington Post reported.

“I am going to get to the bottom of who owns and funds social media platforms like Parler that condone and create violence,” Maloney told The Washington Post.

The congresswoman also noted in her letter that Parler’s ex-CEO’s wife is Russian.

“The company was founded by John Matze shortly after he traveled in Russia with his wife, who is Russian and whose family reportedly has ties to the Russian government,” Maloney wrote. “Concerns about the company’s connections to Russia have grown since the company re-emerged on a Russian hosting service, DDoS-Guard.”

She asked the FBI to “conduct a robust examination of the role that the social media site Parler played in the assault, including as a potential facilitator of planning and incitement related to the violence,” The Washington Post reported.

She also accused DDos-Guard of having ties to Hamas despite the fact the company stopped providing service to Hamas in November of 2020.

Maloney told The Washington Post that she was making the investigation of Parler a priority for the investigative oversight panel.

Matze’s departure from the company was announced shortly thereafter, The New York Times reported.

Parler announced that it would rely on Meckler to drive the company through the relaunch and to assist the growing app in its search for a better permanent head, KSNV reported.

The company currently lists an address at a shipping store in Henderson on its business registration filings.

You can follow the official account of The Police Tribune on Parler at @BlueLivesMatter.