A congressional oversight committee is investigating whether Parler has financial ties to Russian entities, citing reports that the right-wing social network “allowed Russian disinformation to flourish” before the election and hosted calls for violence before a crowd incited by Trump invaded the Capitol in January. 6. The committee chairman sent a letter to Parler’s COO, Jeffrey Wernick, today demanding documents about Parler’s ownership, potential links to Russian individuals or entities and reported negotiations between Parler and the Trump Organization.
“Parler reportedly allowed Russian misinformation to flourish on his platform before the November 2020 election, facilitating Russia’s campaign to sow chaos in the American electorate,” said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), chairman of the Supervisory Committee and Reform of the Chamber of Deputies, wrote in the letter to Wernick. “Although similar misinformation has been removed by other social media platforms, she was allowed to remain in Parler. When US hosting services severed ties with Parler for not moderating content that advocated violence, Parler reappeared on a service Russian hosting company, DDos-Guard, which has links with the Russian government and has the Russian Ministry of Defense as one of its customers. “
Maloney also quoted a BuzzFeed report that said, “The Trump Organization negotiated on behalf of then President Donald Trump to make Parler his main social network, but it had one condition: a shareholding in exchange for membership.” Parler offered Trump’s company a 40 percent stake, but the negotiations “were hampered by the January 6 events,” the report said.
“These negotiations allegedly took place while President Trump was still in office, which experts warned to raise legal issues regarding anti-bribery laws,” wrote Maloney.
Parler users call for “civil war”
In the weeks before January 6, “Parler users actively joined the platform to call for violence and even ‘civil war’,” wrote Maloney. She also described an increase in calls for violence against Parler shortly after Trump spoke at a rally on January 6, before her supporters broke into the Capitol.
“A recent analysis by USA Today shows a strong connection between President Trump’s speech at the January 6 rally and a significant increase in calls for violence against Parler,” Maloney wrote to Wernick. “Immediately after President Trump urged his supporters to ‘show strength’ during his speech, the term ‘civil war’ became one of the five most used terms in Parler. One user wrote: ‘Let men counterattack and f – – them up. Civil war is upon us. ‘”
Maloney noted that “several Parler users have been arrested and charged for their roles” in the January 6 crowd “, with the Justice Department citing in several cases the threats individuals made through Parler in the days leading up to and after the attack. “
Parler co-founder and CEO John Matze was recently fired.
Searching for Parler Ownership Information
Urging Parler to comply with his request for documents, Maloney pointed to “the Supervisory Committee’s broad authority to investigate ‘any matter’ at ‘any time’ under Rule X of the Chamber.” Maloney also referred to legislation she signed up to help law enforcement agencies obtain “proprietary information for opaque corporate entities as part of their investigations into the January 6 attack on Capitol Hill. Individuals linked to the January 6 attack they shouldn’t – and shouldn’t – be able to hide behind the veil of anonymity provided by shell companies. “
Maloney asked Wernick to respond by February 22 with the following documents:
- A capitalization table showing individuals and entities with a direct or indirect shareholding in Parler and a register of shareholders maintained by you or any third party on your behalf;
- A list of all individuals and entities that have or have had any control over Parler;
- A list of Parler creditors who have or have maintained a debt of at least $ 10,000, including the type of debt financing, amount due, maturity and applicable interest rate;
- All agreements, including, but not limited to, consultancy, services or business agreements that Parler has with any Russian individual or entity;
- All documents and communications regarding or related to financing, gifts or investments proposed or concluded at Parler, directly or indirectly by any Russian individual or entity; and
- All documents and communications relating to [or] regarding a proposal to provide President Donald Trump with an equity stake in Parler.
We contacted Parler about Maloney’s letter today and will update this article if we receive a response. Parler, which was hacked by Amazon Web Services on January 10, remains online only as a static web page with a few posts and a note about “technical difficulties”.