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Post by Admin on Jan 9, 2021 19:27:55 GMT
Google has removed Parler, a social media app popular with Trump supporters, from the Google Play Store, making it much harder for Android users to download and access the app.
Google said in a statement that its requires social media apps to have content moderation policies that remove posts that incite violence, and that posts on Parler were encouraging further violence after the U.S. Capitol riot earlier this week.
The removal of the app comes as the violence at the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters on Wednesday that left five dead has renewed calls for social media and technology companies to more closely moderate their platforms, especially when it comes to calls to incite violence.
Twitter permanently banned President Donald Trump’s personal account on Friday because it felt that Trump’s most recent tweets were inciting violence, while Facebook prevented Trump from posting through the inauguration later this month.
Screenshots of the Parler app seen by CNBC show users posting references to firing squads, as well as calls to bring weapons to the presidential inauguration later this month. In its statement, Google said that it warned the app about its content moderation policy earlier this year.
Parler was launched in 2018, and it emerged earlier this year as a pro-Trump alternative to Twitter with less content moderation. “We’re a community town square, an open town square, with no censorship,” Parler CEO John Matze said in June. “If you can say it on the street of New York, you can say it on Parler.”
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Post by Admin on Jan 10, 2021 6:38:42 GMT
 Amazon notified Parler that it would be cutting off the social network favored by conservatives and extremists from its cloud hosting service Amazon Web Services, according to an email obtained by BuzzFeed News. The suspension, which will go into effect on Sunday just before midnight, means that Parler will be unable to operate and will go offline unless it can find another hosting service. People on Parler used the social network to stoke fear, spread hate, and coordinate the insurrection at the Capitol building on Wednesday. The app has recently been overrun with death threats, celebrations of violence, and posts encouraging “Patriots” to march on Washington, DC with weapons on January 19, the day before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.  In an email obtained by BuzzFeed News, an AWS Trust and Safety team told Parler Chief Policy Officer Amy Peikoff that the calls for violence propagating across the social network violated its terms of service. Amazon said it was unconvinced that the service’s plan to use volunteers to moderate calls for violence and hate speech would be effective. “Recently, we’ve seen a steady increase in this violent content on your website, all of which violates our terms," the email reads. "It’s clear that Parler does not have an effective process to comply with the AWS terms of service.”  An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment on the suspension. In a post on Saturday evening following publication of this story, Parler CEO John Matze, who did not return a request for comment from BuzzFeed News, said it is possible the social network will be unavailable on the internet for up to a week as we rebuild from scratch." |
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Post by Admin on Jan 10, 2021 19:36:56 GMT
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones claims he put up nearly $500,000 to mount President Trump’s disastrous speech Wednesday in Washington, DC — and was asked by the White House to lead the subsequent march that devolved into a riotous siege of Capitol Hill. “No one would book the Ellipse, no one would book the other areas. No one would pay for it. We went and paid for it,” Jones said in a video posted to his InfoWars website Thursday and reported by The Independent. “Thank God a donor came in and paid like 80 percent of it,” he went on. “Because it cost close to half a million dollars, with all the equipment, all the stages and the rest of it. Port-a-Potties, you name it.” Jones did not name the anonymous benefactor — but he did shed light on an initial plan to have the Secret Service escort Jones through the gathered Trump supporters so he could head a procession to the Capitol. “The White House told me three days before, we’re going to have you lead the march,” Jones said.  “And Trump will tell people, go and I’m going to meet you at the Capitol. But there was a million people outside,” he explained. “So by the time I got out there … there were already hundreds of thousands of people ahead of me marching.” |
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Post by Admin on Jan 12, 2021 7:10:35 GMT
 In the wake of the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by scores of President Trump’s supporters, a lone researcher began an effort to catalogue the posts of social media users across Parler, a platform founded to provide conservative users a safe haven for uninhibited “free speech” — but which ultimately devolved into a hotbed of far-right conspiracy theories, unchecked racism, and death threats aimed at prominent politicians. The researcher, who asked to be referred to by her Twitter handle, @donk_enby, began with the goal of archiving every post from January 6, the day of the Capitol riot; what she called a bevy of “very incriminating” evidence. According to the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, among other sources, Parler is one of a several apps used by the insurrections to coordinate their breach of the Capitol, in a plan to overturn the 2020 election results and keep Donald Trump in power. Hoping to create a lasting public record for future researchers to sift through, @donk_enby began by archiving the posts from that day. The scope of the project quickly broadened, however, as it became increasingly clear that Parler was on borrowed time. Apple and Google announced that Parler would be removed from their app stores because it had failed to properly moderate posts that encouraged violence and crime. The final nail in the coffin came Saturday when Amazon announced it was pulling Parler’s plug. |
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Post by Admin on Jan 19, 2021 3:48:54 GMT
Parler resurfaced online with a status update Sunday evening from chief executive officer John Matze to the alternative social media platform's "lovers and haters," noting that the company plans to welcome its users "'back soon."  "Hey is this thing on?" Matze wrote. "Now seems like the right time to remind you all — both lovers and haters — why we started this platform. We believe privacy is paramount and free speech essential, especially on social media. Our aim has always been to provide a nonpartisan public square where individuals can enjoy and exercise their rights to both. We will resolve any challenge before us and plan to welcome all of you back soon. We will not let civil discourse perish!"  |
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