Parler, the popular social network among Donald Trump supporters, has partially returned to the Internet with the help of a Russian-owned technology company.
The network disappeared from the Internet after being abandoned by the hosting arm of Amazon and other partners due to lack of moderation, after its users called for violence and posted videos glorifying the attack on the United States Capitol on January 6.
On Monday, Parler’s website was accessed again, albeit with only a message from its chief executive, John Matze, saying he was working to restore functionality.
The internet protocol (IP) address used is owned by DDos-Guard, which is controlled by two Russians and provides services that include protection against distributed denial of service attacks, infrastructure expert Ronald Guilmette told Reuters.
Other DDoS-Guard customers include the Russian Ministry of Defense, as well as media organizations in Moscow. Until recently, it offered 8kun – formerly known as 8chan – protection against DDoS. Last week, DDoS-Guard became the last company to sever ties with 8kun hosting company VanwaTech, after investigations by the Guardian.
If Parler’s “free speech” website is fully restored, users will be able to view and post comments. Most users prefer the app, however, which remains banned at official Apple and Google stores.
Matze and representatives of the DDoS-Guard did not respond to requests for comment.
On Wednesday of last week, Matze told Reuters that the company was in talks with several service providers, but gave no further details.
DDoS-Guard was registered in 2017 under a limited partnership, a financial structure in Scotland that allows non-residents to create companies with little scrutiny. Aleksei Likhachev and Evgeniy Marchenko, two Russian businessmen who registered it, remain owners of the company. The partnership under which DDoS-Guard is registered is called Cognitive Cloud and is listed at an address on Edinburgh’s Forth Street.
Speaking from the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don last week, Marchenko told the Guardian that DDoS-Guard was a global information security service that hosted “thousands of websites”.
Parler’s critics said relying on a Russian company was a potential security risk, as well as an odd choice for a site popular with those who call themselves patriots.
Russian propaganda fueled political divisions in the United States, supporting Trump and expanding false narratives about electoral fraud, but also protests against police brutality.
Parler, who said he had more than 12 million users, sued Amazon last week after the cloud service provider cut the service, citing insufficient moderation in calls to violence.
In an update on Monday, Parler.com linked to a Fox News interview in which Matze said he was “confident” that Parler would return in late January.
With Reuters