As we reported on Sunday, Parler.com issued a plea to all of its users to help stay online because Amazon.com's web server was going to pull the plug on the conservative social media platform at midnight.
Well, it seems that they have followed through with their threat. When last we checked at 10:45am Eastern, the social median platform was offline.
On Saturday afternoon we reported Apple had threatened to pull the Parler app from the App Store. Well, now they have followed through and have officially pulled the App.
As AppleInsider reports:
The takedown has removed the app from view in the App Store, with it no longer appearing in searches, following Apple's demand for change. New downloads of the app are no longer possible until the app is reinstated, though existing installations will still be able to access the service as normal.
Google pulled the app from the Google Play Store within hours of Apple's announcement, making the app unavailable to download to Android devices via that digital storefront.
On Friday, Apple contacted the developers behind Parler about complaints it received regarding content and its use, including how it was allegedly employed to "plan, coordinate, and facilitate the illegal activities in Washington D.C.," an email from the iPhone producer said. As well as enabling users to storm the U.S. Capitol, which led to the "loss of life, numerous injuries, and the destruction of property," Apple believed the app was continuing to be used to plan "yet further illegal and dangerous activities."
Apple gave Parler 24 hours to make changes to the app to more effectively moderate content posted by users, or face ejection from the App Store until the changes are actually implemented.
Shortly before 8 P.M. Eastern Time, almost an hour after the deadline, the app was removed from the App Store.
In a statement, Apple said "We have always supported diverse points of view being represented on the App Store, but there is no place on our platform for threats of violence and illegal activity. Parler has not taken adequate measures to address the proliferation of these threats to people's safety. We have suspended Parler from the App Store until they resolve these issues."
Parler bills itself as being a "non-biased, free speech social media focused on protecting user's rights," and has become the online home for conservatives and radicals that have been kicked off other mainstream social networks like Facebook and Twitter. In recent months, the app had gained a reputation for being a safe-haven for conspiracy theorists and far-right extremists, including people who called for protests and violence after the latest U.S. presidential election.
Parler co-owner Dan Bongino told The Federalist that Apple has threatened to ban the platform from its App Store and bar it from iOS devices. In early November, the social media app and Twitter rival topped the Apple App Store list of most popular apps for the first time.
On Parler, CEO John Matze said the platform will not “cave to politically motivated companies and those authoritarians who hate free speech.”
To read the rest of the article, click here.
For those of us who can only use one key at a time, a little known accessibility feature on Macs called "Sticky Keys" can help. It allows a user to press one key at a time to enable a function (for example, [Command + P] to print).
Here's how:
Now, let's try it.
