Washington: Twitter and Facebook have cracked down on political misinformation by adding labels to posts including those shared by President Donald Trump, who lost his bid for reelection to Joe Biden. Now conservatives are flocking to Parler, an alternative social network.
Last week, high-profile conservatives urged others to join Parler after major news outlets projected Biden’s victory. “Twitter has aided the Democratic Party in stealing this election and now everything Trump says is being silenced. Tell everyone you know to get on Parler,” far-right provocateur Laura Loomer told her more than 687,000 followers on Parler earlier this month.
Twitter and Facebook, which have repeatedly denied allegations of conservative bias, suspended Loomer from their platforms for violating their rules.
Loomer is just one of the millions of people who’ve recently sought refuge with Parler, which calls itself a nonbiased, free speech-driven platform. Republicans such as Sen. Ted Cruz from Texas have been promoting the app this year since Twitter started applying labels to Trump’s tweets that falsely claimed fraud with mail-in ballots or that the company said glorified violence.
On Saturday, The Wall Street Journal reported Rebekah Mercer, the daughter of hedge-fund investor Robert Mercer, had backed the company. The Mercers have previously supported conservative causes, including Cambridge Analytica. A subsequent exchange on Parler between Rebekah Mercer and Parler CEO John Matze appeared to confirm her participation in the company. “John and I started Parler to provide a neutral platform for free speech,” Rebekah Mercer wrote on Parler on Saturday.
