Parler CEO John Matze says the social media platform will be back soon, adding that “free speech is essential, especially on social media.”
“Now seems like the right time to remind you all — both lovers and haters — why we started this platform,” said Matze in a statement over the weekend. “We believe privacy is paramount and free speech essential, especially on social media.”
Matze posted his statement on Parler’s website, which appears to have come back online with a single statement from its CEO.
“Our aim has always been to provide a nonpartisan public square where individuals can enjoy and exercise their rights to both,” continued Matze.
“We will resolve any challenge before us and plan to welcome all of you back soon,” added the Parler CEO. “We will not let civil discourse perish!”
Matze’s announcement arrives after Parler registered its domain with the web-hosting company Epik.
The social media platform had been knocked offline by its original web hosting service, Amazon, after the tech giant claimed that words posted by users to the platform might “incite violence.”
Parler responded by filing an antitrust lawsuit saying that Amazon’s decision to take action against the site was not motivated by a concern for public safety, but rather, “political animus,” as the tech giant booted Parler just two days after Twitter permanently banned President Trump from its platform, and while conservatives began fleeing Twitter for Parler.
In its lawsuit against the tech giant, Parler added that an Amazon Web Services (AWS) representative had “repeatedly asked whether the President had joined or would join Parler now that he was blocked by Twitter and Facebook.”
The lawsuit also notes that Amazon did not terminate its contract with Twitter over concern that users’ language on the platform might incite violence, despite one of Twitter’s top trends being “Hang Mike Pence” at the time of Parler’s banning.
Amazon was not the only tech giant to take action against Parler that week. Both Google and Apple banned the social media platform from their app stores, effectively excluding the Parler app from Android and iPhone smartphones.
Despite the tech giants making the same moves, Apple CEO Tim Cook told Fox News Sunday that “big tech is not monolithic — there’s several companies, they do different things. For us, we’re always trying to do the right thing.”
“We obviously don’t control what’s on the internet,” Cook insisted. “But we’ve never viewed that our platform should be a simple replication of the internet.”
The Apple CEO added that if Parler just effectively cracks down on users’ speech, they will be welcome back to the app store.
“We’ve only suspended them,” said Cook. “If they get their moderation together they would be back on there.”
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.