Parler, a social media app popular with U.S. conservatives, returned to Apple’s App Store on Monday after the iPhone maker dropped it following the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, reports Axios.
Parler also named George Farmer, the company’s chief operating officer since March, as its new chief executive and said interim CEO Mark Meckler would be leaving.
Apple told Parler its content moderation and hate speech policies were adequate, and it would be allowed back on the App Store in April.
“The entire Parler team has worked hard to address Apple’s concerns without compromising our core mission,” Meckler said in an emailed statement. “Anything allowed on the Parler network but not in the iOS app will remain accessible through our web-based and Android versions. This is a win-win for Parler, its users, and free speech.”
The Washington Post said Parler’s Chief Policy Officer Amy Peikoff likened the iOS version of the app to a “Parler Lite or Parler PG.”
Parler is still pushing Apple to allow users to see hate speech behind a warning label, the newspaper reported.
Apple is under increasing antitrust scrutiny for its control of the App Store, and right-wing users along with Republican members of Congress had argued they were being silenced by the phone giant. Several tech companies cut ties with Parler after the Capitol riot, accusing the app backed by prominent Republican Party donor Rebekah Mercer of failing to police violent content on its service.
Parler went dark for about a month after Amazon suspended web-hosting services and returned online in February with Los Angeles-based private cloud infrastructure SkySilk, whose CEO said he did it to spite tech giants that abuse their might.
“Is the power that is being wielded by Big Tech more dangerous than the hate and vitriol of certain places on the Internet?” SkySilk CEO Kevin Matossian asked at the time. “We took the position that big technology’s overreach, this unchecked power, is equally frightening.”
“My levels of what I would tolerate are probably substantially lower than most people. I grew up in a religious home, and there are things that are said on the Internet that I wouldn’t let my children near,” he said. “But where do you draw the line of content moderation? I don’t know.”
Source: Newmax
