January 18 (Reuters) – Parler, a popular website and social media app for the American far right, has partially returned online with the help of a Russian-owned technology company.
Parler disappeared from the internet when he was left by the hosting arm Amazon Inc and other partners, for poor moderation, after his users demanded violence and posted videos glorifying the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
On Monday, the Parler website was accessible again, albeit only with a message from its chief executive, who said he was working to restore functionality.
The Internet protocol address he used is owned by DDos-Guard, which is controlled by two Russian men and provides services, including protection against distributed denial of service attacks, infrastructure expert Ronald Guilmette told Reuters.
If the website is completely restored, Parler users may see and post comments. However, most users prefer the app, which remains banned from the official Apple Inc. and Google stores.
Parler CEO John Matze and DDoS-Guard representatives did not respond to requests for comment.
Last Wednesday, Matze told Reuters that the company was in talks with several service providers, but declined to elaborate.
DDoS-Guard has worked with other racist, right-wing and conspiracy sites that have been used by mass killers to share messages, including 8kun. He also supported Russian government websites.
The DDoS-Guard website lists an address in Scotland under the name Cognitive Cloud LP, but which is owned by two men in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, Guilmette said. One of them recently told the Guardian that he was not aware of all the content that the company provides.
Parler’s critics said it was a potential security risk to depend on a Russian company, as well as a strange choice for a popular site among self-described patriots.
Russian propaganda has sparked political divisions in the United States, supporting US President Donald Trump and amplifying false narratives about election fraud, as well as protests against police brutality.
Parler, who revealed that he has more than 12 million users, sued Amazon on Monday after the e-commerce giant and cloud service provider discontinued the service, citing a weak moderation in calls for violence. (Reporting by Kenneth Li and Elizabeth Culliford in New York and Joseph Menn in San Francisco; Edited by Lincoln Feast.)