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SAN FRANCISCO – Talking, the social network that drew millions of Trump supporters before it disappeared from the internet, is back online a month after Amazon and other tech giants cut the company off for hosting calls for violence at the time of the Capitol riot.
Being frozen by tech giants made Parler a famous cause for conservatives who complained about being censored, as well as a test case for opening up the internet. It was unclear whether the social network, which had positioned itself as a free speech and mildly moderated site, could survive after being blacklisted by the biggest tech companies.
For weeks it turned out the answer was no. But on Monday, for the first time since Jan. 10, typing speaks.com into a web browser returned a page to connect to the social network – a move that had taken weeks of work from the small business and who had driven initially. of its general manager.
Parler executives did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.
It was not clear how Parler figured out how to host his site on computer servers, the central technology behind any website. Many large web hosting companies had previously rejected it. For other services needed to run a large website, Parler relied on help from a Russian company that once worked for the Russian government and a Seattle company that once supported a neo-Nazi site.
Talking’s comeback appears to be a victory for small businesses challenging Big Tech’s dominance. The company had sought to communicate its plight regarding the power of companies like Amazon, which stopped hosting the Talking website on its computer servers, and Apple and Google, which removed the Talking mobile app. their app stores.
Speaking had become a hub for right-wing conversations over the past year, as millions of far-right people gathered on the platform for what they saw as Facebook’s censorship of conservative voices. , Twitter and Google. Much of the content in Speak was benign, but for months before the Jan.6 riot on Capitol Hill, the site also welcomed calls for violence, hate speech and disinformation.
Days after the riot, Amazon, Apple and Google said they cut off Speak, because it showed it couldn’t consistently enforce its own rules against messages inciting violence. Apple and Google have said they will allow Talking’s app to come back if the company can prove it can actually control its social network.
After Amazon started Parler from its web hosting service, Parler sued it, charging it with antitrust violations and breach of contract. A federal judge said last month that Amazon’s contract allowed it to end the service and refused to force the company to continue hosting Parler, as the startup had requested.
Parler had over 15 million users when it went offline and was one of the fastest growing apps in the United States. It is largely funded by Rebekah Mercer, one of the Republican Party’s greatest benefactors.
John Matze, co-founder and CEO of Parler, said earlier this month that Ms Mercer had effectively fired him over disagreements over how to run the site. Ms. Mercer hired Mark Meckler, a leading voice in the Tea Party movement, to lead Parler.
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