Parler has been offline for more than a week, though officials behind the social-media platform say they are working to return it service. Parler went offline after several vendors that it relied on to operate, including Amazon.com Inc., ceased providing support, saying the company violated their content-moderation rules.
Before going dark, Parler had been growing quickly in popularity among conservatives, especially after the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Some users turned to the platform to share threats ahead of the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and others shared posts on Parler after storming the building, according to social-media researchers and screenshots of posts viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Here’s what we know about Parler and its users and what its future holds.
What is Parler?
Parler launched in 2018, billing itself as an unbiased, free-speech alternative to larger social platforms such as those operated by Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. Company executives said Parler had 15 million users before its website and apps were forced offline.
The company’s looser policies on content moderation attracted high-profile conservative media personalities such as Fox News host Sean Hannity as well as supporters of former President Donald Trump, including some who have promoted baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen, as other platforms have cracked down on this kind of speech.
