(Reuters) – Google, Alphabet Inc, suspended Parler’s social networking service from its app store on Friday, citing posts inciting violence and calling for moderation in the “robust” content of the app favored by many supporters of US President Donald Trump.
Apple Inc. offered the service 24 hours a day on Friday to present a detailed moderation plan, pointing to participants using the service to coordinate Wednesday’s siege of the U.S. Chapter building.
The actions of the two Silicon Valley companies mean that the network seen as a refuge for people expelled from Twitter could become unavailable for new downloads from major mobile app stores in a day. It would still be available in mobile browsers.
Right-wing social media users gathered at Parler, the Telegram messaging app and the social hands-off site Gab, citing the more aggressive police of political comments on major platforms such as Twitter Inc and Facebook Inc. Twitter permanently suspected the account on Friday.
In suspending the service, Google, whose software powers Android phones, cited its policy against applications that promote violence and gave recent examples from Parler, including a Friday post that began “How do we get our country back?” About 20 coordinated hits “and another promoting a” Million Million March “in Washington.
Parler CEO John Matze said in a post on Friday that Apple applies Parler’s standards that it does not apply to itself.
In a statement, Google said that “in order for us to distribute an application through Google Play, it is necessary for applications to implement robust moderation for flagrant content. Given this ongoing and urgent threat to public safety, we are suspending the playlists in the Play Store until these issues are resolved. “
In a letter from the App Store review team to Parler, seen by Reuters, Apple on Wednesday quoted participants in the mob that stormed the US Chapter building.
“Content that threatens the welfare of others or is intended to incite violence or other illegal acts has never been acceptable on the App Store,” Apple said in the letter.
Apple has given Parler 24 hours to “remove all unacceptable content from your application … as well as any content that harms people or attacks government facilities now or at any future time.” The company also asked Parler to submit a written plan “to moderate and filter this content” in the application.
Apple declined to comment.
Matze, who describes himself as a libertarian, founded Parler in 2018 as a “free speech” alternative to mass platforms, but began courting right-leaning users as Trump’s prominent supporters moved there. .
Among those who joined are commentator Candace Owens, Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani and right-wing activist Laura Loomer, who handcuffed herself at the door of the New York Twitter office in November 2018 to protest her ban by the site. In November, conservative activist Rebekah Mercer confirmed that she and her family, which includes her father and hedge fund investor Robert Mercer, provided funding to Parler.
“Looks like they think Parler is responsible for ALL the user-generated content on Parler,” Matze said. “Therefore, (sic) by the same logic, Apple must be responsible for ALL the actions taken by their phones. Every car bomb, every illegal conversation on a mobile phone, every illegal crime committed on an iPhone, Apple must also be responsible “, he wrote. “Standards that don’t apply to Twitter, Facebook or even Apple itself apply to Parler.”
Reporting by Elizabeth Culliford, Joseph Menn and Stephen Nellis; Editing by Leslie Adler, Cynthia Osterman and Daniel Wallis