Parler announced its official relaunch a month after it closed, following the January 6 Capitol riots.
The conservative social media site broke the news in a statement obtained on Monday, but did not reveal where its re-launched site is being hosted.
‘Parler, the world’s number 1 free speech social media platform with over 20 million users, is announcing its official relaunch today, based on independent and sustainable technology and not dependent on the so-called’ Big Tech ‘for its operations’ says the statement. “Parler’s re-release – open to Americans from all points of view – is available immediately.”
The statement also included a quote from Parler’s new interim CEO, Mark Meckler, a Tea Party activist who intervened after former chief executive, founder Mark Matze, was fired earlier this month.
“Parler was built to offer a social media platform that protects freedom of expression and values privacy and civil discourse,” said Meckler.
‘When Parler was taken down in January by those who wish to silence tens of millions of Americans, our team came together, determined to deliver on our promise to our highly engaged community that we would be back stronger than ever. We are very happy to welcome everyone back.
‘Parler is run by an experienced team and must stay. We will succeed as the leading social media platform dedicated to freedom of expression, privacy and civil dialogue. ‘
Apple, Google and Amazon banned Parler from their app stores days after the Capitol siege due to a failure to moderate ‘blatant content’ posted by users in connection with the violence.
Amazon removed Parler from its web hosting service on January 11, effectively eliminating him from the Internet.
Parler announced its official relaunch on Monday, a month after it closed due to violent and incendiary messages about the January 6 Capitol riots
Parler’s re-release statement included a quote from his new interim CEO, Mark Meckler (left), who intervened after the resignation of former chief executive, founder Mark Matze (right)
Parler sued Amazon in federal court to go back online two days later, arguing that the tech giant had breached its contract and was abusing its market power.
A judge rejected Parler’s request to have his web service immediately restored by Amazon on January 22, but did not dismiss the case.
On January 19, Parler reappeared with the help of a Russian-owned web security service.
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 with the far right.
In Monday’s announcement, Parler said the app would only be available to existing users in the first week of the relaunch. New users will be available for registration starting next week.
The Verge confirmed that the old accounts have been restored, but said that the pre-closed posts – called ‘trades’ – are not available.
The agency said that some high-profile users, including Fox News presenter Sean Hannity, have already started posting on the relaunched website.
Meckler was hired to help relaunch Republican mega-donor Rebekah Mercer, one of the main financiers of the app that has a majority stake.
The 58-year-old California lawyer and political activist came to prominence in 2009 when he co-founded the Tea Party Patriots (TPP), a grassroots conservative organization that defends the free market, limited government and fiscal responsibility.
Meckler left the TPP in 2012 and founded Citizens for Self-Governance (CSG), a conservative nonprofit political group best known for its efforts to amend the Constitution to cut federal spending. Meckler currently serves as president of CSG.
Meckler expressed his support for Parler in a tweet last November, in which he criticized Twitter for suppressing freedom of expression.
‘Twitter sucks … I mean, seriously sucks. They hate free speech. Especially conservative freedom of expression. Come and join me in Parler, ‘wrote Meckler in his last Twitter post, dated November 20.
Meckler is not expected to remain CEO of Parler for the long term, but he will remain in office until the site finds a permanent replacement for its predecessor Matze.
Meckler expressed his support for Parler in a tweet last November in which he criticized Twitter for suppressing freedom of expression
Matze, 27, has repeatedly condemned his resignation in recent weeks, accusing Mercer, the main stakeholder, of betraying him.
In an interview with Axios on HBO last week, Matze said he was ousted after trying to ban the QAnon conspiracy theories and crackdown on white supremacists using the app.
‘I feel like it was a stab in the back by someone I thought I knew. And then, for me, you know, I would never do business with her again, ‘said Matze of Mercer.
“I thought I knew you. She invited my family to travel with them and everything. I thought she was, in general, I thought she was being real. And then she suddenly makes her people fire me and she doesn’t even talk to me about it.
Matze told Axios on HBO that he was ‘betrayed’ and stabbed in the back by heiress investor Rebekah Mercer after being deposed by Parler’s council last week
Rebekah Mercer, a Republican donor, is one of Parler’s main donors, who has a majority stake. She was pictured at the Trump Tower in New York in December 2016
Parler experienced an increase in the number of users after Twitter banned Donald Trump amid pressure to curb the incendiary speech after the Capitol riots, which also prevented the then president from joining Facebook and Instagram.
Matze had previously said that Trump considered joining Parler under a pseudonym.
He told Axios on HBO that any potential deal with Trump was a losing or losing scenario.
“I didn’t like the idea of working with Trump because he may have intimidated people inside the company to do what he wanted. But I was worried that if we didn’t sign the deal, he could have taken revenge and told his followers to leave Parler, ‘said Matze.
Trump has since been found to be in talks to acquire a 40 percent stake in Parler in exchange for agreeing to post on the social media app first.
Matze and two other Parler advisers met in Mar-a-Lago in June to discuss the deal.
He did not mention this meeting during his interview with Axios, despite talking about the business.
This happens when House Democrats asked Parler to hand over a list of investors and creditors after news that Trump received an offer to participate.
“These negotiations allegedly took place while President Trump was still in office,” wrote Carolyn Maloney, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, in a letter to Parler’s chief operating officer, Jeffrey Wernick.
Maloney specifically requested interested parties with ‘direct or indirect ownership interests’ and any entity to whom Parler owes $ 10,000 or more.
In the wake of Matze’s resignation and bitter fall, Parler investor Dan Bongino publicly classified the deposed CEO as a liar.
In a statement to DailyMail.com, Bongino criticized Matze’s comments about his dismissal as “inaccurate and misleading”.
Bongino, a conservative podcast commentator and presenter, said Matze had ‘difficulty reconciling the application of the guidelines on the one hand and freedom of expression on the other.’
“We intend to demonstrate that there is no conflict between them, because the free exchange of ideas requires the exclusion of (threats of) violence.”
In another live stream on Facebook, Bongino said: ‘I’m really upset right now … The relationship with Parler and the CEO didn’t work out because the CEO’s vision was not ours. Everybody knows it? Our vision was crystal clear. ‘
“This site would be a free speech platform or it would be nothing,” said Bongino. “The company’s vision as a free speech platform was mine and that of the other two owners, and we were totally committed to that.”
‘We could have woken up in a week, if we had just bent the knee and followed all of Apple’s ridiculous decrees to become a heavy moderation site to the left of Twitter.
“We don’t want garbage on our website and we took the appropriate steps to do that, but we were a free speech website.”
Bongino also hinted that ‘terrible decisions’ were made under Matze’s leadership that prompted the site to be taken down without giving further details.
“We needed to get up and fight, some terrible decisions were made in the past that led to us being overthrown by Amazon and others,” he said.