Yesterday, as we reported, Apple gave Parler an ultimatum: fix its moderation policies and remove objectionable content calling for the sort of violence seen in Washington D.C. on Wednesday or be removed from the App Store. Apple gave Parler 24 hours to comply, and that clock ran out at approximately 3 p.m. ET today, Saturday, January 9. Now, the company has taken action and users can no longer download the app on the App Store.
It comes as no surprise that Parler has failed to comply. First, the task was Herculean. Parler's position that allowing calls to hang the vice president constitute defensible free speech means there's a giant backlog of hate-filled, conspiracy-laden content to moderate. Second, Parler's CEO has made it clear he thinks making it more difficult for hobbyist militia to organize themselves on his platform isn't something he or his company ought to police. Consequently, Apple has duly pulled the plug.
Bye, Felicia —
Parler yesterday received its marching orders from the Google Play store, too, but it can still be sideloaded on Android devices. Parler's Apple users aren't as fortunate. Apple's ironclad grip on its ecosystem means sideloading apps isn't an option (except on jailbroken devices) making it far more difficult to circumvent.
Nonetheless, it's hard to feel too sorry for Parler, or it's even more cretinous but less-well-funded compatriot, Gab. This week both services have enjoyed the sort of growth their founders have previously only been able to dream of, as Trumpists, QAnon enthusiasts, and other (mostly Caucasian) people, many of whom think the Third Reich had some good ideas but was misunderstood, flee from Twitter and Facebook in protest.
Earlier this week, Facebook suspended Donald "you're very special" Trump's accounts on its main service and Instagram until at least after the inauguration, while Twitter finally saw sense and removed Trump's account late on Friday. Both moves prompted the downtrodden, oppressed, chronically marginalized, MAGA cohort to scream censorship and flee for safer spaces like Parler and Gab.
Censorship is a big word —
Trump's part-time footsoldiers and various Republican members of the House and Senate alike are calling Apple, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube's moves "censorship" and efforts to variously silence conservatives, trample the First Amendment, or other convenient, but ultimately hollow, excuses. The alternative they're asking for is even worse, and should be anathema to their positions.
All of the companies that have expelled Trump are private entities. They're fully within their rights to remove users who habitually violate their terms of service. In fact, they'd be remiss not to. Suggesting they should be compelled to carry calls to insurrection, death threats, racism, or any of the MAGA crowds' other interests sounds a lot like the sort of behavior you'd find in a totalitarian, communist state. You know, like China or North Korea.
Owned by the libs —
Now, as much as Trump enjoys photo ops with his crush Kim Jong-un, you'd think real patriots would find telling private, American-owned businesses what they can and can't do would be unacceptable. One would expect Parler, in particular, to fight hard to defend Apple's right to decide who's allowed to frolic in its walled garden. It called the "free market." It even has "free" in the title, guys.
But then, Parler's never been the pointest bayonet in the insurrection tool shed. It recently called for Section 230 to be repealed, a move that would all but doom it to endless, ruinous litigation, and its figurehead, CEO John Matze, went on Kara Swisher's Sway podcast the very day Trump egged-on rioters and shrugged when asked if his platform has a responsibility to try and keep murderous seditionists from coordinating their attacks on the country they profess to love.
With the official Trump merch store shuttered, too, Parler and Gab should be rejoicing. Opportunities to fill the vacuums created by Apple, Facebook, Shopify, and others are great business opportunities. Now all they have to do is build their own e-commerce platforms... and smartphones... oh, and while they're at it why not their own countries, legal systems, and economies, too?
After all, if they don't like the direction America is taking they can — as they've spent the last four years reminding the rest of us — always leave.
