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Parler Takes One Step Towards Rebooting Itself….. With A Host That Is Home To Far Right Groups Among Other Sites

Posted in Commentary with tags on January 11, 2021 by itnerd

Well, fresh off of suing Amazon for punting them off the Internet, Parler has taken a step towards rebooting themselves. They have moved their domain name to a company named EPIK which does domain registration and hosting. Though they have many steps to take to fully get back online.

Here’s the thing about EPIK. They along with its CEO Robert Monster, has a history of coming to the defense of the far right online. For example, they host Gab which is a similar right wing social media site that I told you about earlier today. They also have a rather checked history, including:

So you see, Parler is in great company. If the company you keep are Neo-Nazi’s, conspiracy theorists, and right wing nut jobs. This can only end badly for them.

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BREAKING: Parler Sues Amazon For Site Takedown…. Alleges Antitrust Violations

Posted in Commentary with tags , on January 11, 2021 by itnerd

Let the games begin.

Alternative social networking service Parler has sued Amazon accusing its web hosting service of breaking anti-trust laws in taking off the platform that is popular with many right-leaning social media users. You can read the court document here. But here’s the reasons why they will lose. First of all, and most important of all, Parler violated Amazon’s terms of service because unlike Facebook and Twitter, Parler doesn’t crack down on hate speech. And you combine that with the fact that people on its platform plotted the events of last Wednesday that left five dead, Amazon was well within its rights to toss them off AWS. Second, Amazon has really deep pockets and will simply throw lawyers at this to make Parler either go away, or run them out of money.

Here’s the counterpoint. If you read their court document, they make some somewhat interesting arguments. Specifically:

4. AWS’s decision to effectively terminate Parler’s account is apparently
motivated by political animus. It is also apparently designed to reduce competition
in the microblogging services market to the benefit of Twitter.

And:

5. Thus, AWS is violating Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act in
combination with Defendant Twitter. AWS is also breaching it contract with
Parler, which requires AWS to provide Parler with a thirty-day notice before
terminating service, rather than the less than thirty-hour notice AWS actually
provided. Finally, AWS is committing intentional interference with prospective
economic advantage given the millions of users expected to sign up in the near
future.

I would be interested to see if Parler can prove that there was a political motive behind this, and that Amazon is trying to hurt them. But remember on both parts of this, I’m a computer geek and not a lawyer.

This will be fun to watch.

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Parler To World: Vendors Could “End” The Business…. And This Is Allegedly A Problem For Republicans

Posted in Commentary with tags on January 10, 2021 by itnerd

Last night I posted a breaking story that Amazon had decided to suspend alternative social media platform Parler from Amazon Web Service. When you combine that with the bans from the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store, I said this:

What that means is that unless Parler changes course on the moderation issues that have led to these bans, Jeff Bezos has effectively Thanos snapped Parler off the Internet. 

Now in an interview reprinted on Deadline, Parler CEO John Matze said this which confirms what I said:

“Every vendor from text message services to email providers to our lawyers all ditched us too on the same day,” Matze said today on Fox News.

Matze conceded that the bans could put the far-right company out of business while raising free speech issues, calling it “an assault on everybody.”

“They all work together to make sure at the same time we would lose access to not only our apps, but they’re actually shutting all of our servers off tonight, off the internet,” Matze said. “They made an attempt to not only kill the app, but to actually destroy the entire company. And it’s not just these three companies. Every vendor from text message services to email providers to our lawyers all ditched us too on the same day.”

Here’s the problem with his argument. It’s bogus because this was planned online on various social media and commutation platforms. One of which was Parler. And unlike Facebook and Twitter, they aren’t even trying to moderate this sort of content. And when you rely on other people like Apple, Google and Amazon as part of operating your business, and they have rules against companies that don’t moderate content like this, you are going to have a problem. Largely because they do not want to be held liable for the bad behavior of your users. So you can’t be shocked that they and many others apparently want nothing to do with Parler.

Here’s the “problem” that this poses for Republicans. They claim that they won’t be able to communicate:

Representative Devin Nunes has claimed, on a national television news station, available on cable, satellite, and internet, that without the social media site Parler, he’ll have no way to get a message to his constituents and supporters.

In the Fox News clip below, Nunes complains about loss of access to the social media site Parler. Parler has been branded as a free speech haven, where people booted from Twitter and Facebook for violating their terms of service can retreat. However, the app has been booted off of Google and Apple’s appstores, and now, according to Buzzfeed, Amazon’s web hosting will no longer provide services to the site. At the time of this writing, the site is still up. However, if they can’t find another hosting service, it won’t be for long.

In the Fox News clip below, Nunes complains about loss of access to the social media site Parler. Parler has been branded as a free speech haven, where people booted from Twitter and Facebook for violating their terms of service can retreat. However, the app has been booted off of Google and Apple’s appstores, and now, according to Buzzfeed, Amazon’s web hosting will no longer provide services to the site. At the time of this writing, the site is still up. However, if they can’t find another hosting service, it won’t be for long.

This is beyond laughable. Ignoring the fact that this guy is an enabler of President Donald Trump, and has a reputation for being a bit of a tool, he still has the following means to communicate with his constituents and supporters:

Notably, a majority of Republican elected officials still have and maintain Twitter and/or Facebook accounts. Elected officials have websites — here is the blog on Nunes’ official house.gov site, where he last posted a mass communication to his constituents on December 19th.

I think what Nunes really means is that the echo chamber that is Parler is about to disappear. And that makes him sad. I say that’s too bad for Nunes and others. And what he is saying on this topic is a total joke.

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BREAKING: Parler Is Being Suspended From AWS…. Possibly Killing The Social Media Platform

Posted in Commentary with tags , on January 9, 2021 by itnerd

Well. Who knew that Jeff Bezos who is the CEO of Amazon had Thanos like powers? I say that because news is breaking that Parler who has been punted from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store now is in very deep trouble as it is being suspended from Amazon Web Services:

Amazon suspended the pro-Trump social-networking site Parler from its web-hosting service this 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, adding in a letter to the social network that it would implement its punishment just before midnight Pacific time Monday.

What that means is that unless Parler changes course on the moderation issues that have led to these bans, Jeff Bezos has effectively Thanos snapped Parler off the Internet. Now it seems like Parler has some sort of “plan b” to get back on line based on this:

Parler also did not respond to a request for comment. But its chief executive, John Matze, said in a post on the site that Parler could be “unavailable on the Internet for up to a week as we rebuild from scratch.”

I question if that’s viable to be honest. AWS is the big boy on the block when it comes to hosting sites the scale of Parler. I am not sure who would be capable of doing the same thing at a similar scale. Not to mention who would be willing to have Parler as a customer. Thus I think that we may be watching the endgame when it comes to Parler. But I am free to be surprised.

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BREAKING: Apple Punts Parler From The App Store

Posted in Commentary with tags , on January 9, 2021 by itnerd

Apple warned that they were going to do it. And they gave Parler a chance to address their issues with moderation of the sort of content that led to the storming of the Capitol in midweek. And clearly Parler didn’t listen so as a result the Parler app has been punted from the App Store:

“We have always supported diverse points of view being represented on the App Store, but there is no place on our platform for threats of violence and illegal activity,” Apple said in a statement provided to me via email. “Parler has not taken adequate measures to address the proliferation of these threats to people’s safety. We have suspended Parler from the App Store until they resolve these issues.”

So Apple joins Google in punting Parler. To be clear, these are suspensions which gives Parler the opportunity to come back if they address the issues that got them punted in the first place. Based on this statement from Parler CEO John Matze, I can’t see that happening:

“Apple will be banning Parler until we give up free speech, institute broad and invasive policies like Twitter and Facebook and we become a surveillance platform by pursuing guilt of those who use Parler before innocence,” he said. “They claim it is due to violence on the platform. The community disagrees as we hit number 1 on their store today.”

I did check throughout Saturday and the Parler app was #1 on the App Store before it was Thanos snapped out of existence. Clearly lots of people rushed to download it before it was banned. Now if people already have the Parler app on their phone, it will stay there. But it won’t get updated. And will likely break at some point because of an OS update. Now if you want to “side load” it or put it onto a phone outside the App Store or Play store, instructions for doing so on Android are floating around the Internet. There is zero chance of doing the same thing on iOS.

But let’s get down to brass tacks. Does the Apple/Google ban of Parler hurt Parler? I would say likely due to the fact that mobile apps outpace anything on desktop/laptop platforms. So their potential to grow with “Joe Average” users will be severely curtailed. That’s a huge problem seeing as according to Morningstar, they haven’t made a dime. At some point, that will be an issue if this ban lasts an extended amount of time. Then I am guessing that Matze is going reconsider his stance. But I guess we will have to see what happens next.

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BREAKING: Google Punts Parler From The Play Store

Posted in Commentary with tags , on January 8, 2021 by itnerd

Google has one upped Apple. You see Apple had threatened to remove Parler because planning for the assault on the Capitol this past Wednesday. Google has now banned Parler for being a “ongoing and urgent public safety threat.”

“In order to protect user safety on Google Play, our longstanding policies require that apps displaying user-generated content have moderation policies and enforcement that removes egregious content like posts that incite violence,” a Google spokesperson told ZDNet today.

“All developers agree to these terms and we have reminded Parler of this clear policy in recent months.

“We’re aware of continued posting in the Parler app that seeks to incite ongoing violence in the US. We recognize that there can be reasonable debate about content policies and that it can be difficult for apps to immediately remove all violative content, but for us to distribute an app through Google Play, we do require that apps implement robust moderation for egregious content.

“In light of this ongoing and urgent public safety threat, we are suspending the app’s listings from the Play Store until it addresses these issues,” the spokesperson said.

I am no fan of Google, but this is the right thing to do and I applaud them for deep sizing Parler. Now we’ll see if Apple will follow suit.

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Apple Threatens To Take Out Alternative Social Media Platform Parler Over Capitol Hill Attack

Posted in Commentary with tags , on January 8, 2021 by itnerd

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.

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