UPDATE: In April 2021 Apple announced it will reinstate Parler to the App Store, despite the fact that Parler ignored Access Now’s call for the company come clean on how its platform impacts human rights.
Parler failed to respond to concerns raised by Access Now in a letter that called for transparency on how its policies affect human rights. The letter was sent to the company on January 11, and the deadline for response was February 4.
Parler users reportedly exploited the company’s lax Community Guidelines to call for violence and share information that helped terrorists storm the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
“By refusing to answer basic questions about what it does to protect its users’ rights, Parler is signaling loud and clear that it doesn’t care if people are harmed as a result of dangerous speech on its platform,” said Isedua Oribhabor, U.S. Policy Analyst at Access Now. “Business as usual enabled the attack on the U.S. Capitol and Parler is clearly content to continue in that vein.”
Access Now will continue to urge Parler, and all social media platforms, to place human rights safeguards at the heart of their policies to combat potentially harmful content.