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Jan. 18 (Reuters) – Parler, a website and social media app popular with America’s far-right, partially returned online with help from a Russian tech company.
Talking disappeared from the internet when it was ditched by the hosting arm of Amazon Inc and other partners for bad moderation after its users called for violence and posted videos glorifying the January 6 attack. against the US Capitol.
On Monday, Parler’s website was back online, but only with a message from its CEO that he was working to restore functionality.
The Internet Protocol address used is owned by DDos-Guard, which is controlled by two Russian men and provides services including protection against distributed denial of service attacks, infrastructure expert Ronald Guilmette told Reuters. .
If the website is fully restored, Speaking users will be able to view and post comments. Most users, however, prefer the app, which remains banned from official Apple Inc and Google stores.
Parler CEO John Matze and representatives from DDoS-Guard did not respond to requests for comment.
Matze last Wednesday told Reuters the company was in talks with several service providers but declined to give further details.
DDoS-Guard has worked with other racist, right-wing, and conspiratorial sites that have been used by mass murderers to share messages, including 8kun. He also supported Russian government websites.
The DDoS-Guard website lists an address in Scotland under the company name Cognitive Cloud LP, but owned by two men in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, Guilmette said. One of them recently told The Guardian that he was not aware of all the content the company is facilitating.
Critics of Parler said that depending on a Russian company was a potential security risk, as well as an odd choice for a site popular with self-proclaimed patriots.
Russian propaganda has fueled political divisions in the United States, supporting outgoing US President Donald Trump and amplifying false rhetoric on electoral fraud, but also protests against police brutality.
Parler, which revealed it has over 12 million users, sued Amazon last Monday after the e-commerce giant and cloud service provider halted the service, citing poor moderation of calls for violence. (Reporting by Kenneth Li and Elizabeth Culliford in New York and Joseph Menn in San Francisco; editing by Lincoln Feast.)
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