Apple Threatens To Take Out Alternative Social Media Platform Parler Over Capitol Hill Attack
It’s been predicted for a while that those who lean to the right politically in the US will abandon social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook for more friendly places. One of those places is Parler. This is a social medial platform that bills itself as a free speech platform. As a result it has gathered a heathy user base among radicals booted from other services. But its users have put it in the crosshairs of Apple who are now saying that Parler needs to clean up its act or get kicked off the App Store:
Apple has given Parler, the social network favored by conservatives and extremists, an ultimatum to implement a full moderation plan of its platform within the next 24 hours or face expulsion from the App store.
In an email sent this morning and obtained by BuzzFeed News, Apple wrote to Parler’s executives that there had been complaints that the service had been used to plan and coordinate the storming of the US Capitol by President Donald Trump’s supporters on Wednesday. The insurrection left five people dead, including a police officer.
“We have received numerous complaints regarding objectionable content in your Parler service, accusations that the Parler app was used to plan, coordinate, and facilitate the illegal activities in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021 that led (among other things) to loss of life, numerous injuries, and the destruction of property,” Apple wrote to Parler. “The app also appears to continue to be used to plan and facilitate yet further illegal and dangerous activities.”
Apple said that “to ensure there is no interruption of the availability of your app on the App Store,” Parler was required to submit an update and a “requested moderation improvement plan within 24 hours of the date of the message,” which was sent on Friday morning. Apple said if it did not receive an update from the company within that time frame, the app would be removed from the App store.
To the surprise of nobody, Parler CEO John Matze accused Apple of applying a double standard to larger services like Facebook and Twitter:
Earlier in the day he said this:
If he were smart, Matze should would show the planet that he’s different than those who assaulted the Capitol and illustrate to Apple and others that domestic terrorists and thugs have no place on his platform. And crack down on them. But based on the above, I don’t see that happening. Thus I am going to go out on a limb here and say that he’s going to get punted from the App Store in the next 24 hours. That will likely set off a chain of events that will include lawsuits and the like.
January 9, 2021 at 8:29 pm
[…] warned that they were going to do it. And they gave Parler a chance to address their issues with […]