Social media platform Parler, which caters to right-wing voices and was taken offline following the Jan. 6 insurrection, is planning to relaunch before the upcoming presidential elections.
The platform’s new owners, PDS Partners, announced the platform’s impending “powerful resurgence” and a return to its roots as a “robust marketplace of ideas”.
Launched in 2018, Parler gained popularity among conservative audiences and users frustrated with speech regulations on more mainstream platforms such as Twitter. During this time, Twitter enforced its policies on speech and removed multiple user accounts, which included far-right figures such as Andrew Tate, Alex Jones, and President Donald Trump. This led to Parler becoming an alternative space for those facing content restrictions on mainstream platforms.
Parler has been dormant since April when it was acquired by Starboard, a digital media conglomerate.
The new ownership comprises the platform’s returning Chief Marketing Officer Elise Pierotti, new CEO Ryan Rhodes, and others who prefer to remain anonymous. Anti-sex trafficking activist Jaco Booyens will serve as the Chief Strategy Officer.
The platform is anticipated to relaunch in the first quarter of the following year.
Parler had previously grappled to restore its online presence after being removed from Amazon’s web-hosting service due to its refusal to eliminate posts inciting violence. Instead of using Amazon’s cloud service, AWS, Parler intends to operate on other technology, including a “hyper-scaled private cloud”.
The platform aims to dissociate itself from past controversies and has implemented moderation services to counteract any issues.
Despite being banished from Google and Apple’s online stores following the insurrection, both have since permitted its return.
