Parler

Parler was an American and  service, with mobile apps for iOS, iPadOS, and other platforms. Parler had a significant user base of, , , and extremists. Posts on the service often contained content,, and conspiracy theories such as. Journalists described Parler as an alternative to Twitter, and users included those banned from mainstream social networks or opposing their moderation policies.

History
Launched in August 2018, Parler marketed itself as a "" and unbiased alternative to mainstream social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. However, journalists and users criticized the service for content policies that were more restrictive than the company portrays and sometimes more restrictive than those of its competitors. Some left-wing users were banned from Parler for challenging the prevailing viewpoints on the site, criticizing Parler, or creating accounts.

Removal from app stores
Following complaints that Parler was used to coordinate the, Parler's Android app was removed from the on January 8, 2021. Apple informed Parler executives on the same day that its would be removed from the App Store within 24 hours if Parler did not improve its moderation policy; Apple removed the Parler app on January 9. Amazon announced that it would suspend Parler from the following day, causing it to go offline at 11:59pm on January 10, 2021. Before the site went down, a security vulnerability allowed personal information about its users to be harvested by hackers and law enforcement. Parler CEO John Matze stated that "every vendor" had stopped doing business with them, potentially bringing the business to an end.

Reinstatement
In January 2021, Matze struck a hosting deal with to get Parler back online, but he was fired by board member and co-founder  by the following month. On February 15, Parler announced that its website was back online, though Android users needed to the app downloaded directly from Parler's website, something not possible on iOS without jailbreaking. It was reinstated on the Apple App Store on May 17, 2021.

Ownership
Parler has not publicly disclosed the identities of its owners besides founder John Matze. , an investor known for her contributions to conservative individuals and organizations, is a co-founder of the company, and conservative political commentator has said he is also an owner. According to Parler, the service had about 4 million active users and over 10 million total users as of November 2020. User activity peaked after the that month and fell again in December.