‘Well, Twitter crossed the line hard. Anyone here?’
Update: After receiving considerable buzz and several key endorsements from conservative figures, downloads of the Parler app surpassed those of Twitter and reached the top spot in Apple’s download store, reported RedState.com.
It’s happening. pic.twitter.com/7Q793KUA2M
— Brandon Morse (@TheBrandonMorse) June 26, 2020
Threatened and insecure leftist media outlets continued to tip their hands, revealing the astounding bias that contributed to the recent conservative migration, by attempting to smear the site with baseless claims that it was a safe-harbor for extremist viewpoints and conspiracies.
However, several such conspiracies and hoaxes being reported on by the mainstream media with impunity have belied their purported concerns about the spread of disinformation and hate speech, both of which the Left has fully embraced in its own rhetoric.
Meanwhile, despite a recent executive order by President Donald Trump that would hold biased sites accountable for censoring reasonable viewpoints, an activist Virginia judge rejected a libel lawsuit against Twitter from Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., which cited the social-media company’s violation of Section 230 in the 1996 Communications Decency Act.
Facebook also continued to get hit after conservative journalism watchdog Project Veritas published the accounts of two whistleblowers that outlined the culture of left-wing bias within the company’s third-party content-moderation warehouses.
Original story below:
(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) Conservative media figures (including this one) supporting a movement to leave the increasingly authoritarian confines of Twitter for the more right-oriented Parler, encouraged followers to join in a Twitter boycott on Friday.
My Parler profile: https://t.co/a7DG5g2uxi https://t.co/qkXSNBLHpG
— Ben Sellers (@liberty_writer) June 25, 2020
Buzz about the new platform caused downloads to skyrocket Wednesday and an array of public figures to announce that they were joining.
Parler is now at #22 on Apple’s list of the most popular free apps. It’s closing in on Twitter…
If you haven’t set up an account at https://t.co/1FTpaUWSGZ, give it a try. The user engagement is far superior to Twitter. And while you’re there, follow me @seanmdav. pic.twitter.com/EtENC8z7Im
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) June 25, 2020
Some sought to use the attention to wage a boycott against Twitter on Friday. However, others made a point of emphasizing that gravitating to the new platform did not mean they were planning to scuttle their old accounts entirely.
Love how people are using creating a Parler account as a failed attempt to “leave Twitter.”
90% of us never said we were leaving. We are just using an alternative platform because there is a very real threat of being banned here for no reason other than being conservative
— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) June 25, 2020
The move comes in response to increasingly brazen attacks from social-media and other online platforms to censor and suppress right-wing voices in the lead-up to the November election.
In one of his early Parler posts, Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams, who occasionally appears of Fox News, wrote: “Well, Twitter crossed the line hard. Anyone here?”
The site operates much like Twitter but with some key interface differences. There is no character constraint, for one. It also does not currently add an easy embed code, making it less media-friendly, which could be considered an asset to many users.
Most significantly, though, it rejects the oppressive community guidelines that have been the source of much criticism as Twitter, Facebook, Google and others willingly kowtow to the outrage mobs they helped create to impose increasingly hypocritical standards rooted in political correctness and other leftist dogma.
According to Parler’s mission statement, its “goal is to offer the world a platform that protects user’s rights, supports publishers and builds online communities.”
The site notes that it does have guidelines, but it seeks to “empower users to control their social experience [and] to engage content as they see fit,” it continued. “We are not regulators. We are not governors. We are a community.”
The Nevada-based site began in 2018, initially gaining traction as a sort of pariah colony for deplatformed right-wing voices whose influence compelled liberal media to label them as “dangerous.”
Among those who have sought safe haven on Parler are Laura Loomer, Alex Jones and Milo Yiannopoulos.
It also hosts figures from conservative media including Zero Hedge and The Federalist, both of which Google and NBC News attempted to “cancel” recently via an activist campaign to demonetize them.
But the real growth comes as it gains acceptance from a growing number of prominent politicians, including Sen. Rand Paul.
It’s about time y’all joined me on @parler_app . What’s taking the rest of you so long?!
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) June 24, 2020
Other marquee members include presidential son Eric Trump, attorney Rudy Giuliani, Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, GOP Reps. Devin Nunes of California, Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs of Arizona, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Louie Gohmert and Jodey Arrington of Texas, Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Ted Cruz of Texas.
I’m proud to join @parler_app — a platform gets what free speech is all about — and I’m excited to be a part of it. Let’s speak. Let’s speak freely. And let’s end the Silicon Valley censorship. Follow me there @tedcruz! pic.twitter.com/pzUFvhipBZ
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) June 25, 2020
The growing list of influencers means it likely will soon become an inevitable presence in the cacophonous clamor of online opinion-spouting punditry.
Already the site has come under attack from partisan echo-chamber radicals and mainstream media outlets, whose leftist frailty precludes the possibility of enduring any meaningful dissent that could threaten or challenge the hive mind.
As Twitter Users Bail, Media Predictably Starts Attacking Parlerhttps://t.co/eRSe4bmHOw
— Jeremy Frankel (@FrankelJeremy) June 25, 2020
But with undercover reports recently exposing the extreme biases in Facebook’s content-moderation process; Google attempting to impose new, arbitrary restrictions; Twitter continuing to re-frame the president’s comments using outrageous (and inaccurate) fact checks; and the growing influence of teen-friendly TikTok—a sight being used by Chinese communists for espionage and election-meddling—the appetite for a conservative safe-haven has finally reached critical mass.
The burning question that remained on the minds of many was if and when President Donald Trump might, himself, make the switch, a double-edged sword that would lend even greater clout to Parler’s entree in the social-media scene while also compelling toxic Trump-bashers to sign up for accounts.
This is a great move, Ted! Take President Trump and all your other TRUE PATRIOT friends with you, and then REALLY take a stand by deleting your Twitter accounts! That’s the best way to fight back against their oppressive censorship! ??
— Rob Sheridan #BLM #ArtIsResistance (@rob_sheridan) June 25, 2020