Parler disappeared after the attack on the US parliament building by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump, because web host Amazon stopped cooperating. According to Amazon, Parler did too little against calls for violence by users of the platform.
The Parler website has been accessible again since Monday. The only thing that can be seen for the time being is a message from CEO John Matze, who states that the service will be available again ‘soon’.
Russian internet company
The IP address used by Parler is owned by the company DDos-Guard, reports Reuters. DDoS Guard is operated by two Russians and provides services including protection against DDOS attacks.
DDos-Guard has in the past provided services to other racist and far-right sites and websites where conspiracy theories are spread, including 8kun. The company has also supported Russian government sites.
Critics of Parler point out that the support from the Russian company poses a security risk and that it is a strange choice for a website that users claim to be patriotic.
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12 million members
Parler CEO Matze and DDos-Guard have not commented. Matze said earlier that his company was in talks with multiple service providers, but then declined to elaborate on that.
Parler is said to have 12 million registered users. President Trump would also have considered switching from Twitter to Parler.
Twitter banned Trump over the risk that the president’s tweets would incite more violence surrounding Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20.
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Lawsuit against Amazon
Parler has filed a lawsuit against Amazon. Amazon defends itself by stating that, under the guise of freedom of expression, Parler allowed messages “encouraging and plotting the rape, mistreatment and murder of officials and civilians named by name.”
Amazon pointed out, among other things, derogatory statements about former first lady Michelle Obama on Parler and posts such as “The only good Democrat is dead. Kill them all.” Amazon also presented a number of Parler messages to the judge in which violence was threatened against black Americans, LGBTI people and Jews.
In court documents, Parler later stated that it has since deleted most of the problematic messages.
Trump banned from social media
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube have taken measures against Trump after the storming of the Capitol. With the exception of YouTube, Trump’s accounts have been suspended until further notice. YouTube has only given the president a temporary upload ban, but his old videos are still online.
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Parler videos storming the Capitol
The nonprofit ProPublica has ample 500 Parler Videos Published created around the Capitol riots in Washington on Jan. 6. The videos show the violent actions of the day, including vandalism and threats against politicians.
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