Parler’s parent company has cut most of the positions allocated to the platform. Prized by the far right for its weak moderation, it could well disappear.
Is speaking about to become an empty shell? A permanent shutdown seems to be in store for the conservatives’ favorite micro-blogging platform. Prized for its very weak moderation, the anti-censorship alternative to Twitter has deleted the majority of its posts, according to The Verge.
Since November, layoffs have been underway within the company and its parent company Parliament Technologies, which specializes in online storage services. But at the end of 2022, 75% of employees have left the company. The cuts have even affected Parler executives: heads of technology, operations and marketing have been let go, according to people familiar with the matter.
Absolute freedom of tone
The platform had its heyday during the 2020 US presidential elections. At that time, a peak of more than 7,000 new users per minute was even recorded. Due to its outspokenness, Parler has seen many conservative and far-right supporters join its ranks.
It was also the same in France since the network was highlighted by Marion Maréchal, former National Rally and now executive vice-president of the Reconquest party.
But this period of prosperity did not last. After Donald Trump’s defeat in November 2020, the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 alerted app stores. The app’s fringe moderation was deemed insufficient by Apple and Google who excluded Parler from the App Store and Google Play Store. Even on the web, the social network has been ostracized.
A takeover by Kanye West abandoned
To be rehabilitated, Parler had to revise its moderation policy. Except that in the meantime, other companies – such as Gettr, Rumble or Truth Social, Donald Trump’s platform – have rushed into the breach of excessive freedom of expression. Even Twitter invested in this segment with the takeover of Elon Musk.
In October, American rapper Kanye West (now officially renamed Ye) set out to buy the social network. The decision followed a suspension of his Twitter and Instagram accounts for anti-Semitic posts. But in the weeks that followed, yet another overflow from the artist derailed the affair.
At Parler, that’s when the layoffs began. Since then, the number of employees still active has been unclear. Just like the distribution between the teams of Parler and that of Parliament Technologies. The Verge mentions that around 20 people would still be present, but that the future is more uncertain than ever for the social network.
