EXCLUSIVE – Parler CEO John Matze criticized elected officials, such as Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who recently called for censorship of her social media platform and proclaimed her “sick” and “bad”.
The CEO said that critics like Ocasio-Cortez don’t understand what America stands for.
Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., recently urged Apple and Google to act against Parler, in a tweet that the leader of the so-called “Squad” of the progressives sent to his 11.4 million followers. Ocasio-Cortez is not alone. Many people on the left have made similar complaints.
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“I think he’s sick,” Matze told Fox News. “That is not what the Constitution says. This is not what the Constitution stands for, banning more than 10 million US voters from the Internet, preventing people from free speech. When people do things like that, it shows that they do not understand the meaning of the Constitution or of this country and what it represents. “
Ocasio-Cortez’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Although Matze does not like elected officials calling for his company to be silenced, he found himself at the center of the news cycle when Google and Apple removed Parler from their app stores and Amazon Web Services cut Parler from their web hosting services in the remains of the Capitol riot.
Parler is a non-partisan company, but it has become a haven for Trump supporters and others who have been kicked out of Facebook and Twitter or left these social networks in protest.
Parler filed a lawsuit against Amazon on Monday after Amazon Web Services’ decision to suspend Parler from its cloud hosting service after last week’s deadly uproar on U.S. Capitol Hill.
Parler is seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent Amazon Web Services from denying Parler and claims that Amazon Web Services is violating the Sherman Antitrust Act in the process.
Matze feels that the tech giants simply gave in to the liberals who asked for his company to be silenced.
“Frankly, I would call it evil, because my definition of evil is ‘to force your will on others,’ he said.” If you don’t like what I have to say, you may disagree with me, but it cannot be vindictive to take action against me without being evil. “
Since then, Matze has promised that Parler will return in the near future with the necessary adjustments to keep everyone safe, while still defending freedom of expression and respecting users’ privacy.
The new spotlight on Matze, which was inundated with requests from reporters, also resulted in threats against him.
“There is a group called UGNazi that targets me,” said Matze, noting that the controversial group of hackers has released many of their passwords and personal information on the Internet. “They posted my address, threatened to come to my door.”
He generally doesn’t take threats directed at him too seriously, he said. But this time he hid with his family.
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He is not sure when he will return home, saying he is taking things “on a daily basis”, but he thinks that being away from his routine in the chaos that surrounds his company can actually have a positive impact.
“It probably leveled me out,” said Matze. “If I were home now, I think my stress levels would have been three times higher … at least there’s that saving grace.”