Parler was abandoned by big tech companies after he was used by members to incite violence on the United States Capitol. It now has a hosting service owned by two Russians.
Parler, the popular social network among alternative right and conspiracy theorists, has reappeared with the help of a Russian-owned web security service while the site is looking for a way around the prohibitions that took it down earlier this month.
“Our return is inevitable due to hard work and persistence against all odds,” wrote CEO John Matze in a new post, the most recent since Amazon Web Services stopped hosting the site and was banned from Apple Inc. and Google app stores. “Despite threats and harassment, no Parler employee resigned. We are becoming closer and stronger as a team ”.
Parler, who was abandoned by major technology companies after being used by members to incite violence at the U.S. Capitol, is now relying on a hosting service from DDoS-Guard Corp., which is owned by two Russians, Evgenii Marchenko and Aleksei Likhachev, according to documents filed with Companies House, a UK agency that records company information and makes it available to the public. The DDoS-Guard website lists a location in Edinburgh for its headquarters.
The public data associated with the domain name Parler.com shows that one of the Internet servers to which it directs visitors is routed via DDoS-Guard. Another server, specifically for routing Parler.com email, but not the website content, is an Outlook.com address, operated by Microsoft Corp.
A DDoS-Guard spokeswoman said the company was not hosting Parler and declined to comment on what services it was providing to the social media application. He confirmed that he stored customer data as part of his offer.
On Sunday, Apple CEO Tim Cook defended Apple’s decision to remove the Parler app, despite complaints from critics that the move affects freedom of expression.
“We saw the incitement to violence that was there,” Cook said on Fox News Sunday. “We do not believe that freedom of expression and incitement to violence have an intersection.”
Parler’s domain name is now registered with Epik Inc., a website services company based in Sammamish, Washington, according to public records made available by Internet regulator Icann. Epik is also the domain registrar for Gab, another less restrictive social networking site, popular on the far right.
Most of Parler.com’s features appeared to remain inactive on Tuesday, in addition to statements by Matze and other employees. Members cannot log in or post messages and the app is not yet available on Apple Inc. or Google Play stores.
“Although we did not expect Parler to change his domain name to Epik on January 11th, we are very grateful for the opportunity,” said Epik spokesman Robert Davis by email. “This has given rise to great discussions about how Parler can be an inspiring part of the progression and evolution of future social media.”
Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Before its ban, Parler – which has less restrictive terms dictating what members can post and was endorsed by some Republican lawmakers and media figures – saw an increase in users as Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc. banned President Donald Trump along with groups that supported the violence.