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Tag: Parler

  • Parler denied re-entry on Apple’s App Store after Capitol Riot evaluate

    Parler, the controversial conservative social media app, was denied re-entry to Apple Inc.’s App Store just lately after it was kicked off the platform within the wake of the January 6 Capitol riot, paperwork obtained by Bloomberg present.
    On Wednesday, Parler LLC minimize its three remaining iOS builders, based on an individual aware of the matter. The firm eradicated seven employees in whole, most of whom have been contractors. The different employees labored on Parler TV and high quality assurance, stated the particular person, who requested to not be recognized discussing non-public issues.
    When it initially eliminated Parler from the App Store in January, Apple requested the social community to vary its moderation practices. Apple stated that Parler’s new group pointers, launched when the service got here again on-line Feb. 15, have been inadequate to adjust to the App Store guidelines.
    “After having reviewed the new information, we do not believe these changes are sufficient to comply with App Store Review guidelines” Apple wrote to Parler’s chief coverage officer on Feb. 25. “There is no place for hateful, racist, discriminatory content on the App Store.”
    Apple included a number of screenshots to assist the rejection. Some screenshots, reviewed by Bloomberg, present consumer profile photos with swastikas and different white nationalist imagery, and consumer names and posts which are misogynistic, homophobic and racist.
    “As you know, developers are required to implement robust moderation capabilities to proactively identify, prevent and filter this objectionable content to protect the health and safety of users,” Apple added in its letter to Parler, a replica of which was obtained by Bloomberg.
    “In fact, simple searches reveal highly objectionable content, including easily identified offensive uses of derogatory terms regarding race, religion and sexual orientation, as well as Nazi symbols,” Apple wrote “For these reasons your app cannot be returned to the App Store for distribution until it complies with the guidelines.”
    Parler’s group pointers have been written by Chief Policy Officer Amy Peikoff, based on two folks aware of the matter. Parler didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon Wednesday.
    Parler went offline following the riot on the U.S. Capitol. Amazon Web Services minimize ties with Parler, and Google and Apple eliminated Parler from their cell app shops. The Parler web site relaunched in February with assist from cloud internet hosting firm SkySilk Inc.

  • Social media app Parler crawls again on-line on ‘independent technology’

    Parler, a social media service well-liked with American right-wing customers that just about vanished after the U.S. Capitol riot, re-launched on Monday and stated its new platform was constructed on “sustainable, independent technology.”
    In an announcement asserting the relaunch, Parler additionally stated it had appointed Mark Meckler as its interim Chief Executive, changing John Matze who was fired by the board this month.
    Parler went darkish after being minimize off by main service suppliers that accused the app of failing to police violent content material associated to the lethal Jan. 6 assault on the US Capitol by followers of then-US President Donald Trump.

    Despite the relaunch, the web site was nonetheless not opening for a lot of customers and the app was not accessible for obtain on cell shops run by Apple and Alphabet-owned Google, which had earlier banned the app.
    While a number of customers took to rival Twitter to complain they have been unable to entry the service, just a few others stated they might entry their present account.
    Parler, which asserted it as soon as had over 20 million customers, stated it will carry its present customers again on-line within the first week and could be open to new customers the subsequent week.
    A screengrab of Parler.com web site and Parler CEO John Matze’s message on January 16, 2021, studying “Hello world, is this thing on?”, seen on this image obtained on January 17, 2021 from social media. (Reuters)
    Founded in 2018, the app has styled itself as a “free speech-driven” house and largely attracted U.S. conservatives who disagree with guidelines round content material on different social media websites.
    Last month, Amazon.com suspended Parler from its internet hosting service, successfully taking the positioning offline. Parler, on Monday, stated its new know-how minimize its reliance on “so-called Big Tech” for its operations.
    Parler appears to be utilizing CloudRoute LLC as its new host and changed Amazon with open-source software program platform Ceph, in accordance right here to nameless laptop programmer “Crash override” who goes with the Twitter deal with @donk_enby.

    The programmer, who right here turned well-known for cataloging virtually all of the posts of customers throughout Parler from the day of the Capitol riot, tweeted on Monday that person accounts have been nonetheless there within the new platform however posts, photos and movies have been wiped.
    Parler and CloudRoute didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.

    “Parler is being run by an experienced team and is here to stay,” stated Meckler, who had co-founded the Tea Party Patriots, a gaggle that emerged in 2009 throughout the fiscally conservative Tea Party motion and helped elect dozens of Republicans.
    It can be backed by hedge fund investor Robert Mercer, his daughter Rebekah Mercer and conservative commentator Dan Bongino.

  • Social media platform Parler loses bid to require Amazon to revive service

    A US choose on Thursday rejected Parler’s demand that Amazon.com Inc restore webhosting companies for the social media platform, which Amazon had lower off following the January 6 storming of the US Capitol.
    US District Judge Barbara Rothstein in Seattle mentioned Parler was unlikely to show Amazon breached its contract or violated antitrust regulation by suspending service on January 10, and that it was “not a close call.”She additionally forcefully rejected the suggestion that the general public curiosity can be served by a preliminary injunction requiring Amazon Web Services to “host the kind of abusive, violent content at issue in this case, particularly in light of the recent riots at the US Capitol.”
    “That event,” she added, “was a tragic reminder that inflammatory rhetoric can – more swiftly and easily than many of us would have hoped – turn a lawful protest into a violent insurrection.”
    Parler was not instantly accessible for remark.
    “We welcome the court’s careful ruling,” an Amazon spokeswoman mentioned in a press release. “This was not a case about free speech. It was about a customer that consistently violated our terms of service.”Amazon mentioned Parler ignored repeated warnings to successfully average the expansion on its web site of violent content material, which included calls to assassinate outstanding Democratic politicians, main enterprise executives and members of the media.
    Researchers have mentioned far-right teams on the Capitol had a vigorous on-line presence on platforms together with Parler, the place they unfold violent rhetoric. Parler mentioned there was no proof aside from anecdotes within the press that it had a job in inciting the riots, and that it was unfair to deprive thousands and thousands of law-abiding Americans a platform at no cost speech.
    It additionally mentioned Amazon had no proper to threaten its “extinction” by pulling the plug, and had been motivated by “political animus” to learn Twitter Inc, a bigger Amazon shopper that Parler mentioned didn’t censor violent content material concentrating on conservatives.
    Rothstein rejected that argument, saying Parler had merely raised the “specter of preferential treatment” for Twitter. Many supporters of former US President Donald Trump favour Parler, which has claimed it had greater than 12 million customers.
    Parler stays largely offline after being dropped by Seattle-based Amazon and the app shops of Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google following the Washington unrest. Those firms additionally cited Parler’s file of policing violent content material.
    Parler Chief Executive Officer John Matze informed Reuters on January 13 that Parler could also be offline for good, however later pledged it will return stronger. Matze and his household had been pressured to “go into hiding” after receiving demise threats, his lawyer mentioned on January 15.
    A static model of Parler’s web site not too long ago returned, together with a discover saying Parler was having technical difficulties, and a handful of posts from folks like Fox News hosts Sean Hannity and Mark Levin.
    Chief Operating Officer Jeffrey Wernick mentioned on Tuesday that Parler was posting feedback on behalf of “friends who reached out.”The web site’s web protocol handle is owned by DDos-Guard, which is managed by two Russian males and gives safety from distributed denial-of-service assaults, in line with infrastructure knowledgeable Ronald Guilmette.

  • Parler partially reappears with assist from Russian know-how agency

    Parler, a social media web site and app fashionable with the American far proper, has partially returned on-line with the assistance of a Russian-owned know-how firm. Parler vanished from the web when dropped by Amazon Inc’s internet hosting arm and different companions for poor moderation after its customers referred to as for violence and posted movies glorifying the Jan. 6 assault on the US Capitol.
    On Monday, Parler’s web site was reachable once more, although solely with a message from its chief government saying he was working to revive performance.

    The web protocol deal with it used is owned by DDos-Guard, which is managed by two Russian males and offers providers together with safety from distributed denial of service assaults, infrastructure skilled Ronald Guilmette advised Reuters.
    If the web site is totally restored, Parler customers would be capable to see and submit feedback. Most customers desire the app, nonetheless, which stays banned from the official Apple Inc and Google shops.
    Parler CEO John Matze and representatives of DDoS-Guard didn’t reply to requests for remark.

    Last Wednesday, Matze advised Reuters the corporate was in talks with a number of service suppliers however declined to elaborate.
    DDoS-Guard has labored with different racist, rightist and conspiracy websites which were utilized by mass murderers to share messages, together with 8kun. It has additionally supported Russian authorities websites.
    DDoS-Guard’s web site lists an deal with in Scotland beneath the corporate title Cognitive Cloud LP, however that’s owned by two males in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, Guilmette mentioned. One of them advised the Guardian lately that he was not conscious of all the content material the corporate facilitates.

    Parler critics mentioned it was a possible safety threat for it to rely on a Russian firm, in addition to an odd alternative for a web site fashionable with self-described patriots.
    Russian propaganda has stoked political divisions within the United States, supporting outgoing US President Donald Trump and amplifying false narratives about election fraud but in addition protests towards police brutality.
    Parler, which disclosed it has over 12 million customers, sued Amazon final Monday after the ecommerce large and cloud providers supplier lower off service, citing poor moderation of calls to violence.

    In an replace on Monday, Parler.com linked to a Fox News interview by which Matze mentioned he was “confident” Parler would return on the finish of January.

  • Parler CEO says social media app, favored by Trump supporters, might not return

    Social media platform Parler, which has gone darkish after being lower off by main service suppliers that accused the app of failing to police violent content material, might by no means get again on-line, mentioned its CEO John Matze. As a procession of enterprise distributors severed ties with the two-year-old web site following the storming of the US Capitol final week, Matze mentioned in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday that he doesn’t know when or if it would return.
    “It could be never,” he mentioned. “We don’t know yet.” After this story was printed, Matze added: “I am an optimist. It may take days, it may take weeks but Parler will return and when we do we will be stronger.”

    Matze mentioned that Parler was speaking to a couple of cloud computing service however refused to reveal names, citing the probability of harassment for the businesses concerned. He mentioned one of the best factor can be if Parler may get again on Amazon.com Inc.
    Parler, which claims it had over 12 million customers, on Monday filed a lawsuit in opposition to Amazon’s cloud computing division.
    Amazon lower off the social media platform, which types itself as a “free-speech” area and is favored by supporters of US President Donald Trump, from its servers this weekend for failing to successfully reasonable violent content material.
    In the interview, Matze mentioned its relationship with Amazon appeared to deteriorate in a single day and with out a lot warning, an evaluation that Amazon disputes in authorized filings.
    As late as this summer season, Amazon invited Parler to affix an initiative to attach it with potential buyers, Matze mentioned, which was independently confirmed by a supply who characterised the supply as customary for startup prospects.
    Amazon later ended this system and didn’t safe funding for Parler, the supply mentioned. Matze mentioned the corporate didn’t want extra funding on the time.

    By November, nevertheless, Amazon had acquired studies that Parler hosted threatening content material in what it says breached the businesses’ settlement, in keeping with an Amazon authorized submitting.
    Amazon flagged over 100 examples to a Parler govt, comparable to content material exhorting folks to “Form MILITIAS now and acquire targets,” the submitting mentioned.
    In one other court docket submitting Wednesday, Parler mentioned that Amazon had not supplied proof that the platform was used to incite and set up the Jan. 6 US Capitol siege. It referred to as Amazon’s termination of its providers “catastrophic.”
    Disinformation researchers have mentioned far-right teams that appeared on the riot maintained a vigorous on-line presence on various platforms together with Parler, the place they unfold violent rhetoric forward of the unrest.

    ‘Hard to keep track’
    Amazon was not alone in taking motion in opposition to the social media firm. Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google additionally kicked Parler from their app shops.
    Matze mentioned, “It’s hard to keep track of how many people are telling us that we can no longer do business with them.”
    He mentioned Parler had additionally been booted from on-line funds service Stripe and had misplaced its Scylla Enterprise database in addition to entry to Twilio Inc and Slack Technologies Inc, a preferred office messaging app. He additionally mentioned it had been ditched by American Express Co, however the firm mentioned it didn’t have a direct service provider relationship with Parler.
    ScyllaDB and Twilio mentioned Parler violated their insurance policies over violent content material. Slack and Stripe didn’t instantly reply to Reuters requests to remark.
    Matze mentioned that Parler depends on about 600 paid and unpaid “jurors” to make choices in small teams on problematic content material. He mentioned he thought Parler had finished an excellent job on moderation however was attempting to be extra proactive. After distributors informed the platform there was an issue, Parler had put an algorithm in place by the tip of Sunday to flag problematic posts, he mentioned.
    Amazon Web Services didn’t instantly reply to a Reuters request for remark in regards to the algorithm.

    As of Wednesday, Matze mentioned there had been no modifications to buyers in Parler. Hedge fund investor Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah Mercer and conservative commentator Dan Bongino are buyers of the service.

  • Here are the alternate ‘Free Speech’ apps which can be taking Parler’s place

    Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. took the strongest motion but to handle accusations that their platforms are getting used to stoke conspiracy theories, misinformation and incite violence after a mob at a Trump rally broke into the U.S. Capitol final week. Right-wing customers have felt maligned and moved to different websites like Parler, backed by Rebekah Mercer, the daughter of hedge fund investor Robert Mercer. A rush to the positioning late final 12 months made Parler the high downloaded app following President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
    Trump, who was banned completely from Twitter, stated he might construct his personal social platform. “We will not be SILENCED,” he stated in a Twitter put up from the official presidential account that has since been eliminated.
    With Parler out of the sport, right here’s the place customers are going as an alternative:
    Gab
    Gab Chief Executive Officer Andrew Torba stated the social community acquired 600,000 new customers within the early hours of Monday alone after Parler was taken off the web by Amazon Web Services. As of April 2020, the positioning had 1.16 million registered accounts and three.7 million distinctive month-to-month customers.

    In addition to the social community, Gab additionally has a “Dissenter” internet browser that blocks advertisements, a merchandise store that sells t-shirts that say “Deleting Silicon Valley” and a subscription Gab Pro web site.
    Some of Gab’s hottest teams are for Trump supporters, QAnon and ‘Stop the Steal,’ a number of with greater than 100,000 members. Gab has been funded by its founders, customers, premium subscriptions and crowdfunding. Torba owns many of the firm and controls 80% of voting shares.
    Telegram
    Channels bearing the names of Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr. have a whole bunch of 1000’s of followers on encrypted messaging app Telegram. The firm, based by Russian-born entrepreneur Pavel Durov, raised $1.7 billion in 2018 to make its personal crypto foreign money, a mission that was finally deserted after working afoul of regulators. Vedomosti newspaper reported that billionaire Roman Abramovich and businessmen David Yakobashvili and Sergei Solonin had been amongst traders. On Sunday, Trump Jr. shared an inventory of hyperlinks to different conservative accounts to observe, similar to Right Side Broadcasting Network, PragerU and Turning Point USA, in addition to teams like a Trump Supporters Channel.
    Telegram (File Photo: Reuters)
    The app, which competes with the likes of Facebook’s WhatsApp and has about 7 million month-to-month lively customers within the U.S., has seen downloads spike to greater than 133,000 a day on Sunday up from a common vary of about 34,000 to 60,000, in accordance with information from Apptopia.
    WhatsApp has seen an exodus of some high-profile customers similar to billionaire Elon Musk following an replace to the service’s privateness coverage that requires its 2 billion customers to share information with Facebook.
    Rumble
    Calling itself a “censorship free video platform,” the Canadian YouTube competitor is utilized by Conservative commentators together with: Sean Hannity, the Daily Caller, Dinesh D’Souza, the One America News Network and Steve Bannon. Commentators beneath the positioning’s high information video on Monday morning, a Fox News interview in regards to the Parler ban with Republican Congressman Devin Nunes, expressed outrage and mentioned a coming “civil war.” The web site was based by Chris Pavlovski in 2013 and has 50 million distinctive customers a month.
    MeWe
    The social networking web site, based by Mark Weinstein, promotes its privateness credentials and doesn’t help advertisements. The web site has seen greater than 1 million new customers enroll within the final 72 hours and is presently including greater than 20,000 members an hour, in accordance with a spokesman. “People are leaving Facebook and Twitter in droves because they are fed up with the relentless privacy violations, surveillance capitalism, targeting, political bias, and newsfeed manipulation by these companies,” spokesman David Westreich stated in an e-mail.
    MeWe lists Tim Berners-Lee, the British laptop scientist and privateness advocate credited with inventing the World Wide Web, as an adviser. Its phrases of service say, amongst different issues, that customers aren’t allowed to bully, harass, intimidate or hurt one other person or make posts that incite violence or are hateful or threatening or threat having their accounts suspended or completely canceled.
    Its political pages embrace teams sympathetic to QAnon, similar to the Great Awakening and the Empowered Citizen Institute’s Great Awakening Patriots a bunch that’s been banned from Twitter. The firm ranked fourth on Apple’s App Store two days after the U.S. presidential race was known as for Biden. MeWe raised $5.2 million in 2018 from traders together with Lynda Weinman, who bought Lynda.com to LinkedIn in 2015, writer Marci Shimoff, Rachel Roy and Chicken Soup for the Soul creator Jack Canfield.
    2nd1st
    Created by Howly Inc., 2nd1st says it affords uncensored information and tells customers on its app “we must not yield to advertisers or cancel culture.” The app prices 9.99 kilos for a subscription within the U.Okay. Top posts on the app on Monday included mock-ups of Jesus standing behind President Trump, obscure warnings a few revolution or historical past altering occasion tied to Trump and skepticism about necessities to put on masks to forestall Covid-19.
    None of the businesses listed right here, except for MeWe, responded to a request for remark. A consultant for 2nd1st couldn’t be discovered and an e-mail handle for Gab’s press workplace seemed to be defective.

  • Parler app sues Amazon over elimination from servers after Capitol Hill riots

    Amazon.com Inc was sued by Parler over its choice to kick the positioning off its servers on Monday within the wake of rioting on the US Capitol. The web site, which describes itself as a “conservative microblogging alternative and competitor to Twitter,” was taken offline early Monday morning after massive tech firms together with Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google withdrew their help.
    The firm then filed an antitrust lawsuit in federal court docket in Seattle searching for an order forcing Amazon to take care of its account and blocking it from suspending or terminating it or failing to offer companies it agreed on.

    The go well with seeks a short lived restraining order to cease Amazon Web Services from shutting the positioning down. Parler says Amazon is required to offer 30 days’ discover earlier than terminating its service.
    Shutting it down “is the equivalent of pulling the plug on a hospital patient on life support,” Parler mentioned. “It will kill Parler’s business — at the very time it is set to skyrocket.”
    Parler mentioned Amazon informed it late Sunday that it was suspending its account as a result of it “was not confident Parler could properly police its platform regarding content that encourages or incites violence against others.”
    “However, Friday night one of the top trending tweets on Twitter was ‘Hang Mike Pence,’” Parler mentioned in its grievance. But Amazon Web Services “has no plans nor has it made any threats to suspend Twitter’s account. 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.”
    The case is Parler LLC v Amazon Web Services Inc., 21-cv-31, U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington.

  • Tech underneath assault after Parler goes darkish, Twitter drops

    Written by Giles Turner
    Tech corporations tried to include a mounting backlash towards their social media websites, with shares of Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc. falling in early buying and selling and rival platform Parler pressured offline by Amazon.com Inc.
    Twitter fell 7.8% in pre-market buying and selling in New York after it banned President Donald Trump completely for risking incitement to violence, citing posts referring to riots within the U.S. capital final week, eradicating one in all Twitter’s greatest accounts. Facebook’s shares have been down 2%.
    Free-speech-centric community Parler, led by Chief Executive Officer John Matze, was taken offline early on Monday after Amazon Web Services shut down entry to its servers, leaving it with out an internet residence. Both Google and Apple Inc. kicked Parler from their shops, making it virtually not possible to obtain the app.
    The tech giants are attempting to distance themselves from accusations they helped gas the violence in the course of the storming of the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6 by a mob inspired by Trump. So far, Parler hasn’t been capable of finding different website hosting providers keen to step in due to the adverse publicity stemming from the violence, organized partly by itself platform.
    “This is not due to software restrictions — we have our software and everyone’s data ready to go,” mentioned Matze. “Rather it’s that Amazon’s, Google’s and Apple’s statements to the press about dropping our access has caused most of our other vendors to drop their support for us as well.”
    Even ecommerce or funds websites at the moment are reassessing doing enterprise with corporations linked to Trump. Stripe Inc. will cease processing funds for Trump’s marketing campaign web site, based on an individual conversant in the choice. Shopify Inc. additionally shut down e-commerce shops affiliated with Trump.
    Before final week’s violence, lawmakers and civil rights advocates had lengthy been pressuring social media platforms to crack down on posts that encourage violence or hatred. While regulators in Europe have handed legal guidelines fining corporations that fail to behave on hate speech, the U.S. has largely left regulation to the businesses. Twitter first put warning labels on Trump’s tweets that supported the Capitol rioters, then hid them, earlier than suspending the account.
    Reactions from politicians outdoors of the U.S. have been blended. On Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel questioned the choice to close down Trump’s accounts, arguing it ought to be for lawmakers to units the principles governing social media platforms.
    Despite his success on Twitter and Facebook, Trump has been amongst these calling for reforms to the social media platforms.
    The president has lengthy demanded that Congress revoke Section 230, a legal responsibility waiver that social media corporations depend on to permit comparatively unfettered speech on their platforms.
    During his final week in workplace, Trump might look to push by means of modifications to Section 230. Trump has additionally ready a number of government orders associated to the large tech corporations but it surely’s not clear if any will probably be issued, Bloomberg reported.
    “I’m more determined than ever to strip Section 230 protections from Big Tech (Twitter) that let them be immune from lawsuits,” Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican of South Carolina, tweeted.

  • Apple drops Parler from App Store after use in Capitol riot

    Apple Inc. eliminated Parler from its App Store after the social media service was amongst these used to prepare Wednesday’s riots on the Capitol.
    The elimination got here a day after the Cupertino, California-based know-how large threatened to take away the app, telling the builders Friday they’d 24 hours to supply Apple with a plan for moderating and filtering the service.
    A letter offered by Apple to Parler signifies that the social media firm did provide to make modifications to its app with a view to stay on the App Store. Parler instructed Apple that it “has been taking this content very seriously for weeks,” that it could implement a moderation plan “for the time being” and that it could implement a brief job drive, in line with the letter.
    Apple rejected these efforts as an answer in its clarification for eradicating the app. “We have continued to find direct threats of violence and calls to incite lawless action,” Apple wrote to Parler on Saturday, including that the measures have been “inadequate to address the proliferation of dangerous and objectionable content on your app.”
    Parler will keep off the App Store on the iPhone, iPad and different gadgets till it’s capable of present its “ability to effectively moderate and filter the dangerous and harmful content on your service,” Apple added.
    While the app was eliminated Saturday, the transfer at present has no bearing on the numerous customers who have already got the app put in on their Apple gadgets. Removing an app doesn’t cease this system from working, and Apple has apparently by no means taken the step to cease a serious app from working throughout all energetic iPhones.
    Compatibility
    Still, if Parler isn’t allowed again on to the App Store, the app will finally lose compatibility with Apple gadgets. Apps sometimes must be up to date at the least each few years to stay suitable with new iPhone and iPad software program updates.
    Alphabet Inc.’s Google eliminated the app from its Google Play retailer on Friday, saying that it created an “ongoing and urgent public safety threat.” Apple’s transfer is arguably extra impactful as Android permits apps to be put in by means apart from its Google Play Store, whereas the iPhone and iPad are far more restrictive.
    On its App Store web page, Parler described itself as a “non-biased, free speech social media focused on protecting user’s rights.” The service has gained recognition with extremists as Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. have cracked down on customers who promote violence. Parler’s Chief Executive Officer John Matze stated in a Parler submit that the majority of its customers are “non-violent people who want to share their opinions.”
    Before its elimination on Saturday, Parler jumped to the highest of Apple’s App Store charts, changing into essentially the most downloaded free app on the shop. Parler additionally ranked 18th amongst free apps on Apple’s App Store during the last 90 days, in line with Apptopia information.
    Parler was “used to plan, coordinate, and facilitate the illegal activities in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021 that led (among other things) to loss of life, numerous injuries, and the destruction of property,” Apple stated in Friday’s letter to Parler’s builders when it threatened to take away the app.