Bill Berkowitz for BuzzFlash: Welcome to Parler, a "Safe Space" for "Stop the Steal" Trolls, QAnon Aficionados, Dead-Enders, and White Nationalists
November 13, 2020
By Bill Berkowitz
Since the election, in pursuit of whatever straw they can grab onto and unhappy that Facebook and Twitter have added labels to posts of the alternative facts persuasion, millions of conservatives and libertarians are switching their social media presence to such welcoming sites as Parler.
As NBC News’ David Ingram recently reported, “while Parler is far from the first social media platform to cater to users who feel that policies regulating hate speech, harassment and disinformation have gone too far, its embrace by prominent conservatives and its sudden influx of users hint at a once informal online dynamic that has recently become more official: the blue internet and the red internet.”
Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who joined because prominent social networks are “silenc[ing] conservatives and promot[ing] their radical left-wing agenda," claims he has 2.6 million followers. Fox News’ Sean Hannity and radio talk show host Mark Levin each have more than two million followers. Newsmax, a longtime ultra-conservative news outlet is moving toward the top of the app charts. Parler, a twitter-like social media platform, is now a safe space for “Stop the Steal” trolls, Trump supporters, QAnon conspiracy pushers, and white nationalists, and those seeking an alternative to Facebook and Twitter.
In a fragmented and polarized info-sphere, where alternative facts and fake news reign supreme, and as Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites continue its at least quasi-clampdown on false claims and disinformation, Parler, has become a welcoming right-wing landing strip. Launched in 2018, by two Nevada-based software engineers, John Matze and Jared Thomson, Parler -- owned in part by the conservative media personality Dan Bongino -- is now drawing millions of users.
The site pledges to be a portal for “Free Speech and Expression” along with having “unbiased algorithms” and a “community of real people with a real message.” As of Monday, November 9, Parler “had eight million members, nearly double the 4.5 million it had last week,” The New York Times reported.
“Speak freely and express yourself openly, without fear of being ‘deplatformed’ for your views,” says Parler’s website, just above a cartoon of a user wearing a yarmulke.
According to a November 9 BBC report, “Named after the French verb ‘to speak,’ the app has very similar functions to Twitter. Posts can be replied to with comments, ‘echoed’ in a way similar to re-tweeting, and up-voted instead of liked.”
While it is one of a handful of start-up social networks - such as MeWe or Gab - trying to appeal to disgruntled users of the bigger platforms, a screenshot at the BBC shows Parler is the Number one downloaded free app, blowing by TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. The Forward’s David Ian Klein reported on November 9, that Parler “has hit the top of both Apple and Google app store download charts.”
One of Parler’s major claims is that users can post whatever the heck they want, as the app “keeps bans to an ‘absolute minimum,’ and does not fact-check posts. Parler does, however, ban some things, including pornography, threats of violence, and support for terrorism.” Parler’s laissez faire attitude toward truth, makes it a petri dish for disinformation and misinformation.
According to BBC’s disinformation reporter, Shayan Sardarizadeh:
The first "mass migration" of right-wing users from major social networks to Parler happened in June, after a number of accounts that posted misleading content about Covid-19 and George Floyd protests got banned from the bigger social media sites.
Thousands of supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory have joined in in the last few weeks, after Facebook, Instagram and YouTube took sweeping action against them in early October. Followers believe President Trump is waging a secret war against a "deep state" elite of Satan-worshipping pedophiles.
Facebook's ban on organizations that promote violence has also forced groups such as the Proud Boys and Boogaloo Bois to rebuild on Parler.
….While the content posted on Parler is usually not as extreme as other self-proclaimed "free speech" platforms like Gab and MeWe, it is the home of many posts that would either be flagged as misleading or removed by major platforms - on topics like the election, Covid-19, child trafficking and vaccines.
The Proud Boys, the far-right and neo-fascist male-only organization that promotes and engages in political violence in the United States and Canada, have been banned from Facebook and Instagram. In August, the group took to Parler to glorify and praise Kyle Rittenhouse, who was charged with first-degree intentional homicide in connection with shootings that left two people dead in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Bail for Rittenhouse was recently set at $2 million, Tampa Bay, Florida’s Creative Loafing reported.
As The New York Times’ Mike Isaac and Kellen Browning noted, “Facebook and Twitter declined to comment [for their story]. The companies have denied censoring conservatives and typically point to their terms of service when an account breaks the rules. And while many conservatives are upset about their content being labeled or hidden, they are less willing to acknowledge that their posts can often clash with Facebook’s guidelines around disinformation and harmful content.”
Both Twitter’s chief executive, Jack Dorsey, and Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, “are scheduled to testify at a congressional hearing over their sites’ treatment of an unsubstantiated New York Post article that was critical of Hunter Biden, the son of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. The hearing was called by Republicans who were incensed that the sites initially limited the distribution of the article.”
In the never-ending hunt for new right-wing echo chambers, it is interesting that many conservatives are forsaking the Fox News Channel, and turning to Newsmax, a right-wing news website and television channel founded in 1998 by the conservative journalist Christopher Ruddy.
Parler’s key recruiting tool – stated or unstated – is that the platform allows for – and basically encourages -- all sorts of unfounded claims about Joe Biden's stealing votes. Parler co-founder Matze “has played up the app's hands-off approach to post-election disputes over ballots, pledging that unlike Facebook and Twitter, he wouldn't try to assess baseless statements from Trump or his supporters that he defeated Biden,” NBC News pointed out.
"Anybody that's fact-checking any statement about whether or not a president or presidential candidate has won any state right now is speaking prematurely," Matze told the news outlet Cheddar in an interview Monday. "We believe in people and their ability to solve these things on their own without our heavy hand.”
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