The CEO of Parle, the social media app that is favored by the conservatives and far-right groups, said that all of its vendors have distanced themselves from the service following the drastic actions taken by Google, Apple, and Amazon, Deadline reports.
Over the weekend, Google removed the app from the Play Store, citing disturbing and upsetting content uploaded by users on the platform without moderation. Google particularly blamed the service for contributing to inciting the violence ongoing in the US. It accused the service of being the platform where pro-Trump supporters planned and organized the insurrection at the US Capitol.
Google subsequently suspended the app from the Play Store until it had done enough to address the concerns of explicit and violence-inducing content on its platform.
Apple followed after the action by Google, initially giving an ultimatum to Parler to begin a full moderation of its platform or face removal from the App Store, before finally removing the app from the App Store. Amazon, on its part, responded by removing the app from its web hosting service on Sunday.
Matze also disclosed on Sunday that most vendors, including text message services, email providers, and lawyers have turned their back on the service.
Matze said the service would be unavailable for a week as the company tries to rebuild from the scratch. He noted that competition had sprung up for Parler’s market share. The CEO said it would be very difficult to find new vendors to work with because every vendor the company had reached out to was unwilling to work with them citing Apple and Google’s sanctions.
Matze decried the steps taken by all three social media giants, calling it an attempt to gag free speech, and stamp out not just Parler as an app, but kill the entire company. He admitted that the actions of Big Tech had the ability to send a company out of business. On the other hand, he rubbished talks that the app was responsible for the events that happened at the Capitol.
Google, Apple, and Amazon all cited the same reasons for banning Parler – violent content on the platform which has the ability to spiral out of control, as evidenced in the Capitol attack.
Meanwhile, an editorial by the New York Post lampooned the decision by all three social media giants to ban Parler. The New York Post termed the decision as one by “a cabal supporting each other.” The editorial warned that the actions by Big Tech have the propensity to fuel the very extremism that it seeks to quench, dividing America along extreme political lines.
Source: deadline.com
