Apple has refused to allow free speech social media platform Parler to return to its App Store, accusing the company of hosting hateful content.
“After having reviewed the new information, we do not believe these changes are sufficient to comply with App Store Review guidelines” Apple wrote to Parler. “There is no place for hateful, racist, discriminatory content on the App Store.”
“In fact, simple searches reveal highly objectionable content, including easily identified offensive uses of derogatory terms regarding race, religion and sexual orientation, as well as Nazi symbols,” Apple wrote to Parler. “For these reasons your app cannot be returned to the App Store for distribution until it complies with the guidelines.”
Following the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol siege, Apple notified Parler its app would be removed within 24 hours if the company did not create a better moderation system.
Parler was also removed by Google’s Play app store as well, removing them from Android devices.
Parler’s website was then completely removed from the internet.
Amazon Web Services hosted their website, taking Parler down the same week.
The free speech social media platform has worked to return to Apple’s App Store without success.
“We have since engaged Apple to show them how we’ve incorporated a combination of algorithmic filters and human review to detect and remove content that threatens or incites violence,” Parler’s statement noted.
“We’ve also explained our new feature which empowers individual users with the option to filter out personal attacks based on immutable and irrelevant characteristics such as race, sex, sexual orientation, or religion. It’s just the latest way in which Parler enables users to curate their own feeds as they choose.”
Parler’s website has returned to the internet on a new server.
It’s banishment from the App Store, however, continues to seriously limit the company’s growth as Parler seeks to return as the nation’s largest online free speech platform.
