Parler CEO John Matze Fired as Free Speech Platform Struggles to Return to the Internet
Richard Moorhead
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The CEO of free speech social media platform Parler, John Matze, was fired by the company’s board on Wednesday, with Fox News reporting that he had informed company employees of his termination.
“On January 29, 2021, the Parler board controlled by Rebekah Mercer decided to immediately terminate my position as CEO of Parler. I did not participate in this decision,” Matze wrote in his statement. “I understand that those who now control the company have made some communications to employees and other third parties that have unfortunately created confusion and prompted me to make this public statement.”
Parler was deplatformed by Amazon Web Services last month, with the Big Tech company unilaterally yanking Parler’s web hosting following the US Capitol riot. Big Tech and the mainstream media have sought to blame Parler for violence during the event, despite ample evidence suggesting that any planning of violence occurred on Big Tech platforms Facebook and Twitter.
Parler’s administrators had pledged to return the service to the internet by the end of January, but they’ll still haven’t returned Parler to functionality. The delay in securing new server hosting may have ultimately led to Matze’s termination. Parler’s operators have also debated the merits of adopting Big Tech-style algorithm based censorship, with Apple claiming that they would need to in order to return Parler to the app store.
Inquiries from Big League Politics as to when Parler expects to return to the internet haven’t been answered yet.
Fortunately for supporters of internet free speech, there are multiple platforms active and operational that allow their users to speak freely without bias or censorship. Gab’s servers are all internally owned and operated, providing the platform resiliency to Big Tech deplatforming and censorship.
Follow me on Gab @WildmanAZ, Twitter @Wildman_AZ, and on Parler @Moorhead.
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