Apple will restore Parler, the application at the center of the online speech debate

Apple’s letter was posted on Twitter TWTR -3.65%

by Mr Buck and was confirmed by Mr Lee’s office. Apple declined to comment.

In the letter, Apple retained its original decision to remove Parler from the app store, citing posts denigrating race and religion, promoting Nazi ideology and calling for violence. Since January, Apple has had “substantial talks” with Parler, and the app maker has proposed updates to its platform and content moderation policies, Apple said.

“The application review team informed Parler as of April 14, 2021 that the proposed updated application will be approved for reintroduction into the App Store,” the letter said. The letter came in response to an investigation that Messrs. Lee and Buck sent to Apple last month.

Mr Buck said on Twitter that the decision was a “huge victory for free speech”.

Parler LLC, which was launched in 2018, landed amid a debate about internet companies and freedom of expression as it grew in popularity among supporters of then-President Donald Trump.

Parler has a format similar to the Twitter Inc. platform. Its growth coincided with more aggressive efforts by Twitter to signal or remove content that Twitter deems unacceptable or misleading. In February, Parler said it had more than 20 million users, according to Mark Meckler, its interim chief executive.

Parler maintained himself as a competitor on Twitter who would adopt a hands-off approach that moderates content. This policy has made the platform an attractive online meeting place for the president’s supporters, who feared Twitter’s approach to moderating content as Mr Trump challenged the results of the 2020 election and Twitter eventually suspended his account.

Mr. Trump does not have a Parler account, but conservative commentators such as Sean Hannity and Mark Levin have an active presence on the platform. Lawmakers who have strongly supported Trump, including California’s Devin Nunes and Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene, also have active accounts, as have Mr. Buck.

After the mob’s attack on the Capitol building on January 6, Apple and other large technology companies moved quickly to sever ties with Parler, who offered people involved in the attack a forum to discuss their plans. Amazon.com Inc.

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has suspended Parler from its web hosting services. Alphabet Inc.,

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like Apple, it also removed Parler from its app store.

In response to criticism of the Capitol attack, Parler said he sent dozens of examples of violent content to the FBI in the weeks leading up to the crowd in Washington, DC.

Apple has previously denied a previous attempt by Parler to request reinstatement.

Parler has filed a lawsuit against Amazon for disrupting web hosting services, saying it did so for anti-competitive reasons. In February, Parler acquired limited functionality after providing Internet services hosted by SkySilk Inc., which operates from a data center in Los Angeles. Users were able to access the service through a web browser or if they had previously installed the application on their mobile devices.

It remains outside the Google Play Store, and a Parler spokesman said earlier that it is not actively trying to restore the app to the store because it can be accessed in other ways. Parler provides instructions on its website for users to install the app on Android devices without going through the official app store.

Write to Matt Grossman at [email protected]