Parlar: Google suspends ‘free speech’ app

Google has suspended “free speech” social application Parlar from Play Store as it failed to remove “egregious content”.

Google said the app had failed to remove posts inciting violence.

Apple has also threatened Parlar that the app will be removed from Apple Store if it does not comply with its content-moderation requirements.

Parlar’s chief executive John Matze said, “We won’t cave to politically motivated companies and those authoritarians who hate free speech!”

Parlar tends to appear as an “unbiased” social media platform and is popular with people banned from Twitter. It is an American microblogging and social networking service.

The app was launched in 2018. It is highly popular among supporters of US President Donald Trump and right-wing conservatives. According to the international news agency, such groups have often blamed Twitter and Facebook of unfairly censoring their views.

Parlar features several high-profile contributors following earlier bursts of growth in 2020.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz has achieved over 4.9 million followers on the social media platform.  Fox News host Sean Hannity has about seven million.

It became the most-downloaded app in the United States after the Presidential election.

But. Both Apple and Google said that the app has failed to comply with content-moderation requirements.

Google said in a statement,  “Our longstanding policies require that apps displaying user-generated content have moderation policies and enforcement that removes egregious content like posts that incite violence.

“In light of this ongoing and urgent public safety threat, we are suspending the app’s listings from the Play Store until it addresses these issues.”

While Apple said it had seen “accusations that the Parler app was used to plan, coordinate, and facilitate” the attacks on the US Capitol on 6 January.