The social network, popular with supporters of Donald Trump, was vetoed by tech giants for persistent messages inciting violence.
Parler, the popular social network used by supporters of Donald Trump, is no longer available since early Monday, hours after Amazon removed access to its servers due to persistent messages inciting violence that were uploaded to the platform.
The move comes after a mob of supporters of the US president stormed the Capitol last Wednesday.
Amazon announced over the weekend that it was suspending Parler’s account as of 07:59 GMT on Monday because “recently there was an increase in violent content” on the social network.
Tech giants, Apple and Google had already removed the social network from their download platforms due to the proliferation of “threats of violence” and “illegal activities.”
In a series of messages posted on Saturday, site co-founder John Matze accused the tech giants of starting a “war on free speech.”
“They are not going to win! We are the world’s last hope for freedom of expression and information, ”he said on Saturday.
Matze said it will take time to get the social network working again. “We will do whatever it takes to get back online as quickly as possible, but all the vendors we contact tell us that they don’t want to work with us if Apple or Google don’t approve it” and it’s hard to find “300 to 500 computer servers in 24 hours, ”Matze acknowledged in an interview with Fox News on Sunday.
On Saturday, the day after Twitter’s decision to permanently delete Trump’s account, Parler was the most in-demand application on Apple’s download platform in the United States.
Launched in 2018, the social network works similar to Twitter, with profiles to follow and “parts” instead of tweets. Freedom of expression is his leitmotif.
Based in Henderson, Nevada, Parler was founded by John Matze, a computer engineer, and Rebekah Mercer, a major donor to the Republican Party.
A social network on the rise
The platform initially attracted conservative users, some from the extreme right.
More traditional Republican voices recently landed on the social network. Fox News host Sean Hannity had 7.6 million followers and his colleague Tucker Carlson had 4.4 million.
Republican politicians such as MP Devin Nunes and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem also came to Parler.
But it was Twitter’s recent decision to permanently ban Trump’s personal account that sent the number of users on Parler skyrocketing.
Other major social networks, such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, or Twitch, have also suspended the profile of the White House tenant, which has caused many followers of the president of the United States to flock to conservative platforms such as Parler or Gab.
After this heavy-handed demonstration by the tech giants against extremist posts, conservative social media will likely have to adapt.
The live video service DLive, used by several protesters during the invasion of the Capitol on Wednesday, banned seven channels and removed more than 100 videos.
Some might choose to act like Gab, a social network populated mostly by ultra-conservative users, did.
The platform was at the center of controversy in 2018 when it was discovered that the author of a shooting that killed 11 people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh had posted many anti-Semitic messages on this social network.
After Apple and Google vetoed it, Gab acquired its own servers to avoid depending on outside companies.