The tempestuous bullet train that is the 

 may be pulling into its final destination, but the wave of support for the agitator-in-chief, and the overflowing sacks of vitriol that come with it are nowhere near halting. Parler, the right-wing alternative to Twitter – where Parleys and upvotes act in lieu of Tweets and likes, respectively – might be considered, by some, as a major player in keeping the crest of misinformation and hate speech alive.

In wake of election week, the two-year-old app has risen to the top download spot in Google Play and the iOS App Store in the US, as droves of despondent Trump supporters and right-wing conservatives have signed up to the ‘free speech’ platform.

Self-described as a ‘solution to problems that have surfaced in recent years due to changes in Big Tech policy influenced by various special-interest groups,’ Parler, whose moniker takes after the French verb ‘to speak’, is seen by members of certain circles as the balm to 

 crackdown on the spread of false information. In other words, this newcomer network has become the echo chamber for those deemed too toxic by the social media big boys.

In mid-October, Facebook declared that it was banning content that denies or distorts the Holocaust. “Drawing the right lines between what is and isn’t acceptable speech isn’t straightforward, but with the current state of the world, I believe this is the right balance,” founder Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post that announced the company’s decision. This was a complete U-turn on the 36-year-old’s previous statement, two years ago, when he said that posts of a similar ilk should not be automatically removed.

Moreover, Twitter, Trump’s go-to blowhorn, has also drawn the lines. As things stand, Trump currently receives special treatment on the network – meaning his account is immune to being banned or suspended – as he is a ‘newsworthy individual’, a luxury he will forgo once his term at the White House is over.

But, following its announcement in September that it would put warning labels on posts from election night that either inaccurately or prematurely call the results, or relay questionable information about the voting process, Twitter, since last week, has been flagging Trump’s recent baseless Tweets about mail-in ballots and voter fraud. ‘This claim about election fraud is disputed’, one warning reads. ‘Official sources may not have called the race when this was Tweeted,’ states another, in response to Trump’s claim on 7 November that he triumphed over president-elect Joe Biden.

Consequently, due to what conservatives view as a suppression of free speech, Parler – which markets itself as ‘the world’s town square’ where users can ‘speak freely and express’ themselves ‘openly, without fear of being “deplatformed”’ – has recently seen two million new sign-ups in a day and its daily active users quadruple over the weekend, according to founder John Matze. As of Tuesday, there are 7.6 million members on Parler.

It was in June when Parler saw its first major influx of new members, as many right-wing accounts, which circulated inaccurate posts about the George Floyd protests and the coronavirus, were prohibited from the likes of Facebook and Twitter. Proud Boys – the neo-fascist group that Trump told to “stand by” during the first presidential debate – have also sought refuge in Parler, due to Facebook’s ban on organisations that advocate violence.

Most recently, as hopes for Trump’s reelection have all but perished, and because it was ousted from Facebook, the ‘Stop the Steal’ group – which helps spread the president’s claims about voter fraud and Democrats rigging the election – has followed suit. On Parler, the person behind the handle @StopTheSteal continues to share unfounded posts related to the vote and has encouraged followers to show up at Stop the Steal rallies across the US. In the past week, TikTok and Facebook have blocked hashtags, such as #StoptheSteal, that assist in the distribution of election-related conspiracy theories.

Although Trump has not yet registered with Parler, the app’s slack approach to moderation regulations has received the seal of approval from Republicans. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, at the time of writing, claim 3.4 million followers and 945k followers respectively, while conservative-leaning media figures, including Sean Hannity and Mark Levin, the hosts of Fox News, are also present on the platform. On Monday, Levin called for his 2.7 million Twitter followers to join him on Parler. “Hurry and follow me at Parler. I’m trying to encourage as many of you as possible to immediately join me there as I may not stay at Facebook or Twitter if they continue censoring me. And one day I’ll have left their platforms,” he posted.

On a global scale, Parler can also count Milo Yiannopoulos, the self-titled ‘pop star of hate’ and one-time senior editor at Breitbart, and Katie Hopkins, the British right-wing columnist who once said there should be a “final solution” for the terrorists culpable for the 2017 Manchester terror attack, as part of its user base.

Despite Parler’s claim that it has a ‘mission of making social media a more “social” place’, it is hard to refute that it promotes an environment ripe for brewing a toxic hellbroth. In reply to Trump’s message to the Proud Boys in September, the movement’s organiser Joe Biggs Parleyed: “Trump basically said to go fuck them up! This makes me so happy.”

Parler has proved popular among groups such as the Proud Boys. Image courtesy Anthony Crider.


Although claiming to be ‘here to help people… from all walks of life communicate on a platform which treats them as equals,’ acrimonious posts that are laced with hate speech, racism, xenophobia, misogyny and conspiracy theories can bloom and remain unchecked on Parler. Banning is almost always avoided, and posts do not go through a fact-checking process. “We don’t have people in our office who have a ‘ban’ button,” Matze told 

 in October. “You can’t control people. What are you going to do? Someone says the wrong thing, you’re going to throw them in jail? That’s not freedom. That’s not free speech, either.”

It’s not entirely the Wild West on Parler, despite its overall no-holds-barred message. There is somewhat a degree of curation. Parleys which involve violent threats, support for terrorist activities, and pornography are prohibited, for example. Additionally, users can customise what they see and with whom they interact – or, as the upstart says: “We give you the tools you need to do your own “shadow-banning” – while still leaving everyone else free to decide for themselves what they wish to see on their profiles and feeds.”

Now, with Rupert Murdoch-owned US media outlets, which Trump once so often relied on for support, seeming to have turned their backs on the soon-to-depart president; Republicans breaking ranks and beginning to distance themselves from the very man who remoulded the fabric of their party; and Twitter, the medium that gave POTUS45 a podium from which to announce his outbursts over the years, starting to clamp down on his activity, will Parler become the go-to hub for right-wing conservatives in America? And can it really stand toe-to-toe with the bigger, more established social media networks?

According to the BBC, despite Parler’s growing popularity among the right, users of the online platform still continue to create new accounts on its more popular counterparts, knowing it is there where they have a far larger sounding board. Facebook is now way over the two billion-user mark and last year Twitter said it has 126 million daily active users. As things stand, Parler is only a minnow in a tank teeming with sharks.

Can conservative battle cries to join the newcomer app be enough to provide it with any sort of substantial longevity? Thankfully, given the numbers, the hill seems a bit too steep for Parler to climb.

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