Parler, a social media platform favored by conservatives, resumed service on Feb. 15 with new management—coming about a month after Amazon Web Services suspended the site from its servers.
The company moved to a new server farm, said interim Chief Executive Mark Meckler in a statement. He said that new users should be able to sign up for the service within a week or so.
“We are off of the Big Tech platform, so that we can consider ourselves safe and secure for the future,” Meckler said in the release. He didn’t disclose which service provider is hosting Parler.
Meckler said that the firm is using artificial intelligence programs and human editors to investigate speech that violates its terms of service agreement.
“Cancel culture came for us, and hit us with all they had. Yet we couldn’t be kept down. We’re back, and we’re ready to resume the struggle for freedom of expression, data sovereignty, and civil discourse. We thank our users for their loyalty during this incredibly challenging time,” part owner Dan Bongino said in the release.
Meckler was tapped as the company’s CEO after his predecessor, John Matze, was let go by the company several weeks ago.
“On January 29, 2021, the Parler board controlled by Rebekah Mercer decided to immediately terminate my position as CEO of Parler. I did not participate in this decision,” Matze said, according to Fox News. “I understand that those who now control the company have made some communications to employees and other third parties that have unfortunately created confusion and prompted me to make this public statement.”
Following the Nov. 3, 2020, election, Parler saw a significant spike in users as many moved from Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms because of censorship concerns. In the wake of former President Donald Trump’s suspension from Twitter, Google and Apple removed Parler from their app stores, and days later, Amazon terminated its hosting service agreement with the company.
Parler, in response, filed a lawsuit last month against Amazon, arguing that the company violated antitrust laws and colluded with other Big Tech firms to deplatform the website. The company alleged in a court filing that Amazon was primarily concerned with whether Trump would have moved to Parler, rather than alleged violations.
Parler officials didn’t immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.
