PARLER: THE PARADISE LOST

Sometimes lightning does strike twice — nay, several times. Just as when conservative users have
found a haven in Parler, after banishment from Twitter, Apple has taken down Parler’s
app from the  App Store.  Google did the same from its Play Store. So did Amazon
Web Services for Parler “posts that clearly encourage and incite violence.”

by Jack Wright

One of CNN’s most “ticklish” breaking news these last 48 hours was Donald Trump’s being banned permanently from Twitter. The President of the United States dumped by his favorite social platform? How dare!

But there it was. For fear of “further incitement of violence”, Trump has been “de-platformed”.

TWITTER: incitement of violence is unacceptable.

In Twitter’s words: “After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence. In the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very course of action.” (For the complete text, go to Twitter Inc.’s “Permanent Suspension of @real Donald Trump“, 8 January 2021.)

Threats of massive exodus by Trump fans from Twitter followed on the heels of the permanent suspension. One user tweeted: “Goodbye Twitter friends. See you @parler.” Per CNN, Parler boasts more than 2 million daily active users as of October 2020.

PARLER: all set to receive conservative users exiting Twitter, but for a glitch in Paradise

In case you didn’t know, Parler, launched just recently (2008), is a favorite alternative of far-right users even before the storming of the Capitol resulted in Trump’s being banned from Twitter. Forbes said in June 2020 that Parler, an alt-tech, is “like a barebones Twitter.” Self-proclaimed as “the world’s town square”, Parler is where you “speak freely and express yourself openly, without fear of being ‘de-platformed’ for your views.” Or so its website claims.

But sometimes lightning does strike twice — nay, several times. So, just as when Trumpeters have found a haven in Parler, after their disaffection with Twitter, what do you know? Apple, who declares support for diverse points of view, has taken down Parler’s app from the App Store for its “dangerous and harmful content” on 9 January.  Google did the same from its Play Store. And so did Amazon Web Services due to “posts that clearly encourage and incite violence.”

APPLE’S DOWNLOAD ON THE APP STORE BADGE: Apple took down Parler from the App Store.

Parler lashed back, accusing “the tech giants”  of “a coordinated attack to kill competition in the market place.”

Parler Chief Executive John Matze  warned, ” You can expect the war on competition and free speech to continue, but don’t count us out.” However, given the magnitude of the embargo, Parler is bound to go offline, at least for a while.

Trump (@realDonaldTump) had 88,776,124  followers before the expulsion. This ranked him the sixth of the top 10 Twitter users, ahead of Taylor Swift who currently totals 88,019,272 followers and trailing Cristiano Ronaldo with the footballer’s 90,346,064.

Account name/Owner/Followers in millions/Activity as of  8 January 2021*

1             @BarackObama/Barack Obama/128/44th U.S. president

2             @justinbieber/Justin Bieber/114/Musician

PRESIDENT TRUMP: he’d be Twitter’s 6th largest user if he hadn’t been nixed by that social platform.

3             @katyperry/Katy Perry/109/Musician

4             @rihanna/Rihanna/100/Musician & businesswoman

5             @Cristiano/Cristiano Ronaldo/90/Footballer

6             @taylorswift13 /Taylor Swift/88/Musician

7             @ladygaga/Lady Gaga/83/Musician & actress

8             @ArianaGrande/Ariana Grande/80/Musician & actress

9             @TheEllenShow/Ellen DeGeneres/79/Comedian & TV hostess

10           @YouTube/YouTube/72/Online video platform

*Source: Wikipedia

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Images
Featured image: The Garden of Eden by Jan the Elder Brueghel/photographed by Kim Støvring, CC BY2.0; Apple/DUFONE from Pixabay
Twitter logo/redymzoy0 from Pixabay
Parler logo, PD (Wikipedia)
App Store badge, PD
Trump/Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA2.0