Tag: Parler

Social app Parler is cracking down on hate speech — but only on iPhones

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Shut down after the Jan. 6 riot, Parler is using a new artificial intelligence moderation system with more stringent standards for the App Store than other platforms.

When social media network Parler came back to life on Apple’s App Store Monday, it was designed to be a less offensive version than what users are able to see elsewhere.

Posts that are labeled “hate” by Parler’s new artificial intelligence moderation system won’t be visible on iPhones or iPads. There’s a different standard for people who look at Parler on other smartphones or on the Web: They will be able to see posts marked as “hate,” which includes racial slurs, by clicking through to see them.

Parler has resisted placing limits on what appears on its social network, and its leaders have equated blocking hate speech to totalitarian censorship, according to Amy Peikoff, chief policy officer. But Peikoff, who leads Parler’s content moderation, says she recognizes the importance of the Apple relationship to Parler’s future and seeks to find common ground between them. Continue reading.

Parler sued by co-founder who claims right-wing social platform was ‘hijacked’ by Rebekah Mercer

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Parler co-founder John Matze has sued the conservative social network for wrongfully ousting him from his role as chief executive and stripping his 40% ownership stake following the site’s shutdown in the aftermath of the Capitol insurrection. 

In a lawsuit filed in Nevada this week, Matze alleged that Jeffrey Wernick and Rebekah Mercer, two deep-pocketed investors of the company, forcibly removed him from the company by way of bullying and intimidation. Matze, who accused Parler’s investors and co-founders of seizing his personal property, is seeking “millions” of dollars, according to his complaint. 

“John Matze, the founder of Parler and its former CEO, has commenced suit to vindicate his rights,” said Todd Bice, Matze’s lawyer. “He seeks both compensatory and punitive damages pursuant to his claims.” Continue reading.

Dominion Voting tells Facebook, Parler and other social media sites to preserve posts for lawsuits

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SAN FRANCISCO — Lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems have asked Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Parler to preserve posts about the company, even if the material was already removed for spreading misinformation.

The posts need to be kept “because they are relevant to Dominion’s defamation claims relating to false accusations that Dominion rigged the 2020 election,” according to the demand letters from Dominion’s law firm Clare Locke. Dominion sued Rudolph W. Giuliani and Sidney Powell for more than $1.3 billion each in January, alleging that the lawyers defamed Dominion by saying the machines were used to steal the election from President Donald Trump.

Dominion asked each company to keep posts from slightly differing lists of people. Those included right-wing pundit Dan Bongino, Fox News host Maria Bartiromo, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and Powell. It also included news organizations Fox News, One America News Network and Newsmax and — in Twitter’s case — Trump. Continue reading.

Parler Wanted Donald Trump On Its Site. Trump’s Company Wanted A Stake.

Documents seen by BuzzFeed News show that Parler offered Trump 40% of the company if he posted exclusively to the platform. The deal was never finalized.

The Trump Organization negotiated on behalf of then-president Donald Trump to make Parler his primary social network, but it had a condition: an ownership stake in return for joining, according to documents and four people familiar with the conversations. The deal was never finalized, but legal experts said the discussions alone, which occurred while Trump was still in office, raise legal concerns with regards to anti-bribery laws.

Talks between members of Trump’s campaign and Parler about Trump’s potential involvement began last summer, and were revisited in November by the Trump Organization after Trump lost the 2020 election to the Democratic nominee and current president, Joe Biden. Documents seen by BuzzFeed News show that Parler offered the Trump Organization a 40% stake in the company. It is unclear as to what extent the former president was involved with the discussions.

The never-before-reported talks between Trump’s business organization and Parler, a social media network that promises less moderation than mainstream sites and is embraced by the far right, provide more insight into the frantic last weeks of Trump’s presidency. Until the Jan. 6 insurrection, after which Facebook and Twitter suspended or banned him for continuing to sow discord about the election, Trump used those internet platforms to peddle baseless conspiracy theories. While doing so, his representatives actively negotiated to bring him to Parler, which sought to make the president a business partner who would help it compete with Twitter and Facebook by getting him to post his content on its platform first. Continue reading.

Judge rejects Parler’s attempt to force Amazon to host it

The evidence Parler “has submitted in support of the claim is both dwindlingly slight, and disputed by AWS,” the judge said in a decision denying Parler a preliminary injunction.

Amazon Web Services was within its rights to shut down social media platform Parler, a federal judge ruled Thursday, rejecting a move by the site to force Amazon to reinstate it.

U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein in Seattle denied a request by Parler for a preliminary injunction that sought to require AWS to continue hosting the site. Rothstein said Parler offered little more than conjecture that AWS had conspired with Twitter to harm its business and said the web hosting service “argued convincingly” that it sought to prevent Parler from being used to promote violence.

The evidence Parler “has submitted in support of the claim is both dwindlingly slight, and disputed by AWS,” she said in a decision denying Parler a preliminary injunction. Continue reading.

Study: Parler users were more likely veterans or in military

App seen as conservative alternative to Twitter has gone dark in aftermath of Capitol riot

The now-silenced Parler app that appeared to have played a key role in mobilizing the Trump-inspired mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 had a greater share of users who are either veterans or in the U.S. military compared with other social media platforms. 

Parler also drew more users from states in the South and in the Mountain West — tracking closely with pro-Trump Republican voters in those states — than from other parts of the country. The findings come from research by Disqo, a company based in Glendale, California, that signs up volunteers from among users of social media platforms who allow their online presence to be tracked. 

While the overall number of military personnel and veterans on social media sites is small compared with the platforms’ user base, on Parler there was a greater chance of picking a member at random and finding that person to have a military background, said Anne Hunter, vice president of product marketing at Disqo.  Continue reading.

Amazon suspends Parler, taking pro-Trump site offline indefinitely

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Amazon suspended the pro-Trump social network Parler from its Web-hosting service over the weekend, a move that threatens to darken the site indefinitely after its users glorified the recent riot at the U.S. Capitol.

The e-commerce and Web-hosting giant said Parler had violated its terms of service given its inadequate content-moderation practices. It implemented its punishment just before midnight Pacific time Monday.

The move by Amazon Web Services, or AWS, marks the latest and most crippling blow for the pro-Trump social network, which has emerged as a haven for conservative users who have fled more mainstream Silicon Valley sites that crack down on harmful, viral falsehoods online. Last week, Apple and Google removed Parler’s app from their stores for smartphone downloads, similarly citing concerns that posts on Parler could contribute to violence. Continue reading.

Conservatives grumbling about censorship say they’re flocking to Parler. They told us so on Twitter.

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The pro-Trump Internet can’t stop talking about their exodus from Big Tech. But very few of them have actually abandoned their long-time social media homes.

Maria Bartiromo, the Fox Business anchor seen on TV six days a week, has joined a chorus of pro-Trump commentators urging followers to flock to Parler, the social network that promises no fact-checking or “editorial bullies trying to tell you what to think.”

She told Parler chief executive John Matze in an interview earlier this month that Twitter, where she has 927,000 followers and has posted more than 33,000 tweets, has suppressed her speech so mercilessly that President Trump himself should abandon the site.

“I will no longer accept the censorship that is happening on Twitter,” she said. She would still use the site to promote her guests and TV shows, she added, but she would not “be dropping any scoops” there, and that “it is Parler where you will find real stories and the things I’m working on and my opinions on things.” Continue reading.