Parler allowed back on Apple's app store after making changes to its 'content moderation practices'

Parler is coming back to Apple’s app store after making changes to its ‘content moderation practices’. 

The app was forced offline following the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump.

In February Parler had announced it was re-launching. Now a letter to Sen. Mike Lee and Rep. Ken Buck confirms it can return to the iOS app store. 

The Twitter alternative has been struggling to return online since Amazon stripped it of web-hosting service on January 11 over its unwillingness to remove posts inciting violence. 

Google and Apple removed Parler´s app from their online stores for the same reason. 

On April 14 the app is said to have made sufficient changes to be allowed back on Apple. The letter said: ‘Apple anticipates that the updated Parler app will become available immediately upon Parler releasing it.’ 

Parler, the social network known as a conservative alternative to Twitter

The app was forced offline following the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump

Guidelines accessible on the site, dated Feb. 14, said Parler would use technology and human review to remove ‘threatening or inciting content.’ They said a ‘community jury’ headed by a Parler employee would hear appeals.  

For a time after Amazon dropped it, Parler received denial-of-service protection from a Russian-based outfit called DDoS-Guard. 

That ended following revelations that DDoS-Guard had provided services to shady operations, including online forums popular with credit card thieves.

In a lawsuit seeking to force Amazon to restore its service, Parler’s management claimed that Amazon aimed to deny Trump ‘a platform on any large social-media service.’ 

In February Parler had announced it was re-launching. Now a letter to Sen. Mike Lee and Rep. Ken Buck confirms it can return to the iOS app store

That followed Twitter’s decision to permanently ban the former president from its service and similar indefinite bans by Facebook and Instagram.

Parler´s previous CEO, John Matze, says he was fired on Jan. 29 by the Parler board, which is controlled by conservative donor Rebekah Mercer.

At the time, Matze told The New York Times that he’d told Mercer that Parler needed to consider preventing domestic terrorists, white supremacists and followers of QAnon, a baseless conspiracy theory, from posting on the platform.

The 2 1/2-year-old social media site claims 20 million users. Trump never established an account there, although Buzzfeed reported that he considered buying a stake in Parler while he was president.

On April 14 the app is said to have made sufficient changes to be allowed back on Apple. The letter said: ‘Apple anticipates that the updated Parler app will become available immediately upon Parler releasing it’