- Apple removed Wimkin, a free speech social network, from its app stores, as The Wall Street Journal first reported.
- On his website, Wimkin posted a warning, saying “a major DDOS attack attempt came” after the removals.
- At least one group in the network had repeatedly called for the formation of an armed militia in Washington during the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.
Wimkin, a freely speaking social media network, said he was hit by a “massive” hacker attack after Apple removed the app from its store.
On Tuesday, Wimkin was removed from Apple’s App Store for not moderating violent content, including some users calling for a civil war, as The Wall Street Journal reported. Google planned to remove the app on Friday morning, according to Wimkin. On Saturday, the network was still available on Google.
On his website, Wimkin posted a warning, saying “a major DDOS attack attempt came” after the removals were announced. Last week, additional DDoS attacks disrupted the network and disabled the Wimkin app, the company said in a Facebook post.
“We are putting the site in maintenance mode while we tackle this. Check back soon. We will announce when we are online again. Thank you for your patience and support. Thank you,” said Wimkin on his website.
With around 300,000 users, Wimkin is relatively small. Its design mimics Facebook pages and posts. Its founder Jason Sheppard said on LinkedIn that his network “does not censor its users for anything other than criminal activity and allows freedom of speech without fact checking”.
In a statement to Insider, Sheppard said his company is working with Apple to restore the application. “We live in an unprecedented time when America is feeling anguish, fear and distrust like never before. We are also slaves to technology, where sometimes the two combined cause a sense of urgency that leads to legitimate mistakes that have no purpose. We are working with Apple regained “Ready for sale” status and provided a 34-page plan, as well as Google Play, which did not remove us. This is for the safety of users of our platform and not for any censorship. Freedom of expression will not be affected. Wimkin censors only nudity, pornography and criminal activities, including threats of harm or violence. ”
Last week, Apple and Google removed Parler, a larger social network for free speech. As violent crowds plundered the halls of Congress on Wednesday, a chorus of Parler users called for violence. Parler went offline on Sunday night, when Amazon removed it from its web hosting service.
Read More: Parler must be taken seriously as a hotbed of extremism and conspiracy theories, shows new study
Parler and Wimkin said they are dedicated to freedom of expression. They welcomed users who were removed from Twitter or Facebook for supporting QAnon, using violent rhetoric or other policy violations. Parler was the most popular download on the App Store before its removal last week.
In recent months, Wimkin users have posted about the Washington march in January. At least one group in the network had repeatedly called for the formation of an armed militia in Washington during the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.
“Millions of American militias will gather in Washington DC on January 20, 2021, with the aim of preventing any attempt by the domestic enemy traitor Joe Biden, or any other member of the Communist Organized Crime Organization known as the Democratic Party, to enter the White House belonging to We The People, “said a post on a group page, captured by the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.
Some posts and users that incited the violence were removed after Apple notified the app, Sheppard told The Wall Street Journal.
Apple said it had received complaints that Wimkin was “used to plan and facilitate illegal and dangerous activities on January 20,” according to Wimkin, who posted his conversation with Apple on his Facebook page.
Apple did not respond to a request for comment. “We determined that Wimkin does not take sufficient precautions for user-generated content to protect the health and safety of users,” said an App Store representative, according to Wimkin.
Correction: An earlier version of this story reported that Wimkin was removed from the Google Play Store. Google issued a warning, but did not remove the application.