Apple has pulled Parler, the popular alternative to Twitter, from the App Store just hours after warning the company that it wasn’t doing enough to monitor speech.
“We have always supported diverse points of view being represented on the App Store, but there is no place on our platform for threats of violence and illegal activity,” Apple said in a statement Saturday, according to the New York Times. “Parler has not taken adequate measures to address the proliferation of these threats to people’s safety.”
Apple’s statement on the matter: pic.twitter.com/o2sWiVjiHI
— Brian Fung (@b_fung) January 10, 2021
“Parler has not upheld its commitment to moderate and remove harmful or dangerous content encouraging violence and illegal activity, and is not in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines,” Apple said in a statement tweeted by CNN reporter Brian Fung.
Apple has banned Parler from the iOS App Store for hosting “threats of violence and illegal activity.”
Here’s the message Apple sent to Parler explaining the decision, which Apple has provided: pic.twitter.com/YpCQ6u0nt8
— Brian Fung (@b_fung) January 10, 2021
Parler CEO John Matze criticized the decision in a statement posted to Parler Saturday night.
“Apple will be banning Parler until we give up free speech, institute broad and invasive policies like Twitter and Facebook and we become a surveillance platform by pursuing guilt of those who use Parler before innocence,” he said.
Apple will be banning Parler until we give up free speech, institute broad and invasive policies like Twitter and Facebook and we become a surveillance platform by pursuing guilt of those who use Parler before innocence. They claim it is due to violence on the platform. The community disagrees as we hit number 1 on their store today. The same day “Hang Mike Pence”, a disgusting violent suggestion, was trending nationally on Twitter. Displaying the horrible double standard Apple and their big tech pack apply to the community. Apple, a software monopoly, provides no alternatives to installing apps on your phone other then their store. We do not own our phones, Apple simply rents them to us. Apple, Google and the rest of the anti-competitive pack of big tech tyrants coordinate their moves and work together to stifle competition in the marketplace. More details about our next plans coming soon as we have many options.
— John Matze ???????? John Saturday, January 9, 2021
“Apple, Google and the rest of the anti-competitive pack of big tech tyrants coordinate their moves and work together to stifle competition in the marketplace,” Matze said. “More details about our next plans coming soon as we have many options.”
Apple first threatened to remove the app Friday, telling the platform – which was trending as the No. 1 app as of Saturday morning – that they had 24 hours to submit a detailed moderation plan to curb any material that could incite violence, Reuters reported. (RELATED: Michelle Obama Calls On Big Tech Companies To ‘Permanently’ Ban Trump)
Apple told the app to “remove all objectionable content from your app … as well as any content referring to harm to people or attacks on government facilities now or at any future date,” according to the report.
The move comes hours after Google banned the app from its Play Store. Google cited the app’s alleged insufficient monitoring of content posted on the site.
JUST IN: Google suspending Parler from the Google Play store pic.twitter.com/Nyv59LoNWh
— Cristiano Lima (@viaCristiano) January 9, 2021
Conservative users flocked to Parler in recent days after Twitter permanently banned President Donald Trump, citing potential for “further incitement of violence” after the storming of the Capitol Building by pro-Trump rioters Wednesday which led to five deaths and approximately 80 arrests.
After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.https://t.co/CBpE1I6j8Y
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) January 8, 2021
Apple and Parler did not immediately respond to The Daily Caller’s requests for comment.