Jan. 18 (Reuters) – Parler, a popular social media app and website among the American far right, has partially returned to the Internet with the help of a Russian-owned technology company.
Parler disappeared from the Internet when he was dropped by the hosting arm of Amazon Inc and other partners for poor moderation, after his users called for violence and posted videos glorifying the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol.
On Monday, Parler’s website was accessed again, although only with a message from his chief executive saying he was working to restore functionality.
The internet protocol 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.
If the site is fully restored, Parler users will be able to view and post comments. Most users prefer the app, however, which remains banned at official Apple Inc and Google stores.
Parler CEO John Matze and representatives of DDoS-Guard did not respond to requests for comment.
Last Wednesday, Matze told Reuters the company was in talks with several service providers, but gave no further details.
DDoS-Guard worked with other racist, right-wing and conspiracy sites that were used by mass murderers to share messages, including 8kun. It also supported Russian government websites.
The DDoS-Guard website lists an address in Scotland under the name of the company Cognitive Cloud LP, but which belongs to two men in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, Guilmette said. One of them told the Guardian recently that he was unaware of all the content the company makes available.
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 President Donald 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 Monday after the e-commerce giant and cloud service provider cut the service, citing insufficient moderation in calls to violence. (Reporting by Kenneth Li and Elizabeth Culliford in New York and Joseph Menn in San Francisco; Lincoln Feast edition.)