Parler Is Back Online Following Amazon Web Services Suspension
Written by SOURCE on February 16, 2021
On Monday, Parler, the social media site preferred by conservatives, came back online. The site, which is now redesigned, had effectively been taken off the internet a month ago when Amazon Web Services suspended it. It was also suspended from the app stores of Apple and Google.
“Speak freely and express yourself openly, without fear of being ‘deplatformed’ for your views,” said the now-updated-homepage, according to CNN. Previous visits to the site, at least for the past few weeks, turned up a fixed placeholder message. Also content that was previously up before the site was taken down doesn’t look to be available anymore.
The repackaged social network also has a new interim CEO, described by Deadline as former Tea Party activist Mark Meckler.
Prior to Meckler taking the role, the former CEO/co-founder, Jim Matze, was fired by the site in late January and had been reported to have been looking for a new host following the AWS suspension. AWS’ justification for doing so were posts it said violated its terms of services in the wake of the January 6 Capitol riot.
After it was taken down by AWS, Parler filed a lawsuit and asked for injunctive relief that was denied by a judge.
Parler now says it’s built on “sustainable, independent technology.”
A new document outlining community guidelines says Parler “will not knowingly allow itself to be used as a tool for crime, civil torts, or other unlawful acts.”
In what would appear to be an effort to balance that with the pitch that it won’t restrict speech, the same guidelines state, “We prefer that removing users or user-provided content be kept to the absolute minimum. We prefer to leave decisions about what is seen and who is heard to each individual. In no case will Parler decide what [content will] be removed or filtered, or whose account will be removed, on the basis of the opinion expressed within the content at issue.”
