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- At least one member of the Mercer family funds Speak, the social media app touted by Republican politicians and pundits, according to the Wall Street Journal.
- Parler CEO John Matze confirmed to the Journal that Rebekah Mercer has been a major investor in the company since its founding in 2018.
- “John and I started Speaking to provide a neutral platform for free speech, as our founders intended,” Mercer wrote in a post to the site following the Journal report.
- Mercer and his father, Robert Mercer, have funded conservative causes in the past and were among President Donald Trump’s most influential supporters in 2016.
- Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.
At least one member of the Mercer family funds Speak, the social media app touted by Republican politicians and pundits, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Parler CEO John Matze confirmed to the Journal that Rebekah Mercer has been a major investor in the company since its founding in 2018. Other sources have reportedly said it was a family investment, but Mercer said in an article in Parler that his father, a billionaire cover-fund manager Robert Mercer, was not involved.
“John and I started Speaking to provide a neutral platform for free speech, as our founders intended,” Mercer wrote in another post on the site after the Journal report.
Matze introduced Parler as a “free speech” network and said the company does not use fact checkers for content posted on the platform.
Mercer and his father have funded conservative causes in the past and were among President Donald Trump’s most influential supporters in 2016, although Business Insider’s Dave Levinthal said he did not run for president with the same level of support in 2020.
Conservatives have flocked to Speak out recently to protest other social media apps that place fact-check labels on posts. The app was downloaded millions of times in the days following the election, rising to # 1 in the App Store.
After the election, Twitter called many of Trump’s tweets “misleading,” including claims he won the election and unsubstantiated allegations of widespread voter fraud. President-elect Joe Biden is expected to win the election and no evidence of widespread voter fraud has been found.
Tweet tags and allegations of censorship on Twitter and Facebook have prompted media figures and conservative politicians to encourage their followers to join Talk.
“The ever-growing tyranny and pride of our tech lords demands that someone lead the fight against data mining and for the protection of free speech online,” Mercer said in his Talk article. . “That Someone is Speaking, a beacon for all who value their freedom, freedom of speech and privacy.”
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