Parler’s CEO and founder said he was fired from the social media app by Republican donor Rebekah Mercer.
The app, which was popular with Donald Trump supporters, was taken offline and effectively closed by tech giants in the wake of the Capitol violence on January 6.
John Matze told his employees in a memo that he had been dismissed by the company’s board of directors and insisted that he “did not participate in that decision”, reports the Wall Street Journal. He said the board was currently controlled by Mercer, the 47-year-old daughter of hedge fund manager Robert Mercer and a prolific donor to the Republican Party.
“In the past few months, I have encountered constant resistance to my product vision, my strong belief in freedom of expression and my vision of how the Parler website should be managed,” said Matze.
“For example, I advocated more product stability and what I believe is a more effective approach to moderating content.”
Parler had about 15 million users and became popular with conservatives in the months following Trump’s defeat in the Joe Biden elections.
Many users were drawn to the app after other social media platforms took action against Trump’s false claims that the election had been stolen from him.
Parler did not allow threats or criminal activity, but was moderated only by part-time “jurors”.
It saw a huge increase in downloads after Donald Trump’s social media ban on Facebook and Twitter, but it was closed when Amazon Web services pulled it from its servers after the attack on Capitol.
Mr. Matze told his former colleagues that he would take a few weeks off before deciding what to do next.
“After that, I will be looking for new opportunities where my technical acumen, vision and the causes I am passionate about will be demanded and respected,” he wrote.
“I want to thank all the people in Parler who supported me and the platform.
“This has been the true American dream: an idea of a living room for a company of considerable value. I’m not saying goodbye, just a long time for now.”
Ms. Mercer is the daughter of hedge fund magnate Robert Mercer, who has funded a number of conservative causes and spent $ 25 million helping Donald Trump win the 2016 elections.