In an interview with Tucker Carlson, Parler CEO John Matze reported, “People are threatening my life…. I can’t go home tonight. So this is really a lot, you know. This is not just our civil liberties. [Big Tech] can shut down a billion-dollar company, half-a-billion dollar company overnight.”
Parler, a conservative social media alternative to leftist Twitter and Facebook, has endured a rough week. Following the January 6 Capitol building protest, Apple and Google removed its app from their stores, claiming Parler’s lack of moderating made them complicit in the acts in Washington, D.C.
Within 72 hours, Parler’s website was also shut down by Big Tech giant Amazon, whose web servers had hosted their company’s content. The social media network is now effectively shut down — along with its millions of conservative users — until it can restart on a new web server.
Parler has already responded with a lawsuit against Amazon, accusing it of “making an illegal, politically motivated decision to shut it down to benefit Twitter Inc.” according to a Reuters press release. The antitrust complaint was filed with the U.S. District Court in Seattle.
What began as an attack to shut down President Trump has now extended to every American patriot. We can no longer take freedom of speech for granted. It is clear that if conservatives make too much noise, Big Tech can and will pull the plug.
For the first time, our nation is experiencing what happens when social media has more power than the President. Effectively ending President Trump on social media networks, he has been suspended indefinitely on Facebook, Twitter, and a growing list of other digital services.
Interestingly, Parler became the next Big Tech target when reports were made that the President was planning to join the conservative network. Instead of limiting their attack to President Trump, Amazon, Google, and Apple felt the need to shut down the free speech rights of millions of Americans.
But this will not be the end of the story. Parler will find another web service provider. Free speech will not be stopped in America. The left can suppress the voice of its people all it wants, but it cannot silence those who love this nation.
Instead, a several new alternatives are exploding overnight. For those fed up with YouTube’s removal of conservative content, there is now Rumble.com. For those leaving Facebook, there is now MeWe. The social site Gab.com claims millions of new users have joined since November, often overwhelming the site and limiting service.
For messaging, the odd circumstances of our society are leading those who care about free speech to embrace Telegram, the same encrypted messaging app used by Islamist terrorists in years past. Why? Its end-to-end encryption prevents others from accessing messages, while chatrooms exist free from moderation. Similarly, the messaging app Signal shot to number one on the Apple app store as a private alternative for those seeking a free speech network.
Parler’s plight shows Trump is not the target — conservative Americans are. We must not back down to Big Tech’s censorship, but must rather boldly move forward in the chaos of the moment to stand for the free speech rights that have made this nation great.
