A day after Apple sent an ultimatum to Parler, the company has decided to remove the service from the App Store.
Yesterday, Google removed Parler from the Play Store for violating the company"s rules. At the same time, Apple gave Parler 24 hours to create a moderation plan or risk the same fate. Earlier today, the company sent another notice confirming the removal of Parler from the App Store. Apparently, Parler did propose changes to improve moderation but Apple deemed that they were not enough and hence moved to remove the app from the App Store. Apple noted that “the processes Parler has put in place to moderate or prevent the spread of dangerous and illegal content have proved insufficient” and that Parler will not return to the App Store until it has “demonstrated your ability to effectively moderate and filter the dangerous and harmful content on your service.”
After Apple"s ultimatum, Parler rose to #1 spot on the App Store as it showed a surge in downloads. According to TechCrunch, Parler saw approximately 210,000 downloads on Friday, 182,000 of which were first-time downloads from the US.
Along with Apple, Amazon has also announced that the company will be removing Parler from its hosting service. In an email obtained by BuzzFeed News, Amazon Web Services (AWS) Trust and Safety officer told Parler that calls for violence broke the company"s terms of service. Amazon further added that it had seen "a steady increase in this violent content on your website, all of which violates our terms. It’s clear that Parler does not have an effective process to comply with the AWS terms of service."
Parler"s founder and CEO John Matze did not comment on the news. However, he shared a post on Parler noting that the service "will be unavailable on the internet for up to a week as we rebuild from scratch."
Reactions on Matze"s post were swift with some suggesting violence against Amazon. "It would be a pity if someone with explosives training were to pay a visit to some AWS data centers (sic)," one wrote.
Amazon, on the other hand, has attached several screenshots in the email to support its decision of removing Parler from the platform. The company further noted that Parler"s account will be suspended on Sunday, January 10th, at 11:59 PM PST.
Source: BuzzFeed News, TechCrunch