That’s Kind of an Important Detail Don’t You Think?

Parler Worked With FBI To Target Threats Prior To Capitol Riot, Company Says | The Daily Wire

Parler, the social media platform popular with right-wing users, worked with the FBI to target accounts suspected of encouraging violence prior to the January riot at the Capitol, making more than 50 referrals leading up to the violence, the company said Thursday.

In a letter to House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Parler accused “Big Tech” of waging a “coordinated and widespread disinformation campaign” against the platform intended to “scapegoat” it for the deadly riot.

So, they were helping law enforcement prior to the “riot”.

“Far from being the far-right instigator and rogue company that Big Tech has portrayed Parler to be, the facts conclusively demonstrate that Parler has been a responsible and law-abiding company focused on ensuring that only free and lawful speech exists on its platform,” Parler’s attorneys Michael S. Dry and Ephraim “Fry” Wernick wrote in the letter.

Damn facts always get in the way of a good story.

Then They Must be Immediately De-platformed

Jack Dorsey Says Twitter Bears Some Responsibility For Spreading Disinformation That Spurred Capitol Riot | The Daily Caller

While election-related disinformation circulated on Facebook and Twitter, only the conservative-friendly social media site Parler faced significant blowback over the riots.

Google, Apple and Amazon all removed Parler from their platforms days after the riot.

Apple accused Parler of not doing enough to monitor “threats of violence and illegal activity.”

Well, Twitter & Facebook should be treated the same as Parler.

Apple v. Parler–Round 2

BREAKING: Apple DENIES Parler's request to be reinstated in App Store | The Post Millennial

"After having reviewed the new information, we do not believe these changes are sufficient to comply with App Store Review guidelines," Apple wrote to Parler's Chief Policy Officer Amy Peikoff last month. "There is no place for hateful, racist, discriminatory content on the App Store."

If that last statement were really true, they’d have to drop every social media app, and at least a quarter of all songs and movies available on their store, plus probably 5-10% of their other apps.

Apple is a hypocritical company that doesn’t believe in free speech.

Odd That Parler Was Singled Out

Court Docs: Facebook Played Much Bigger Part In Capitol Riot Than Parler (thefederalist.com)

The Department of Justice has now charged 223 people for their participation in the events of Jan. 6. A comprehensive analysis of those charging documents performed by Forbes demonstrate that Parler’s role was minimal, compared to that of Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

Of the 223 charging documents, 73 reference posts on Facebook as evidence, 24 reference posts YouTube, 20 single out Instagram posts (owned by Facebook), and only eight highlight posts on Parler.

Yet Parler was the one that was deplatformed, that no longer has an app available on the Google Store or the Apple Store.

It’s almost as if they were singled out because conservatives tend to gather there.

Big Tech can effectively remove the ability of entire groups of people to engage and persuade in the public square.

That is, until Parler. Parler was able to do what no other alternative to Big Tech has been: achieve mainstream status as a viable competitor. By operating its platform in a more First Amendment-friendly way, Parler threatened to upend the Big Tech speech cartel.

Well, we can’t have that. And we certainly can’t have someone distributing messages that we don’t want the public to hear.

Big Tech doesn’t want market competition. But they also don’t want competition for information and narrative control. Conservatives reaching critical mass on another platform just cannot be allowed. Thus Jan. 6, for all of its horrible events, offered a convenient and successful excuse by which Big Tech could solve its Parler problem—even though the DOJ charging documents have now made clear that Parler’s role was minor.

Read the whole thing. I’ve barely scratched the surface.

It’s not only worse than you imagine, but worse than you can imagine.

Now you can be Fired for Merely Posting on Parler

This is just beyond disturbing. I hope that Colleen Oefelein sues The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency out of business.

Literary agent fired for merely having an account on Parler. | Not the Bee

Well thanks Twitter and @JDLitAgency. I just got fired because I’m a Christian and a conservative.

— Colleen Oefelein (@eerie_o) January 25, 2021

She was fired for merely having an account on Parler and Gab, not because of anything she said there.

If you don’t think that Freedom of Speech in America is under assault, you’re not paying attention.

Strangely, this didn’t happen until after the alleged fascist was defeated in November.

It’s almost like the wrong side has been accused of being fascist.

 

This is Why It is Such a Joke to Shut Down Parler

Well, “joke” is probably the wrong word, since it’s not funny at all.

Sheryl Sandberg downplayed Facebook's blame for Capitol riot, but evidence points to role - The Washington Post

Parler doesn’t even have groups, which really facilitate organizing things. You know who has groups? Facebook.

A growing body of evidence shows Facebook played a much larger role than Sandberg suggested.

The #StopTheSteal hashtag was widely used on the service until Monday, when a search on Facebook reported that 128,000 people were talking about it and in many cases using it to coordinate for the rally, according to Eric Feinberg, a vice president with the Coalition for a Safer Web.

Parler did nothing wrong.

In Fact, I Never Really Used Parler

I signed up for it almost two years ago, but I spent more time on it this weekend than I had total up to this point.

Why? It’s just Twitter, redone. And I don’t like Twitter. It’s a time sink. Nothing useful comes out of it.

Perhaps I am being too harsh on Parler. Time will tell, I guess.

No, it’s not so much Parler I’m defending as it is freedom of speech. I find the attacks on free speech that we’ve seen so far in 2021 to be terrifying. Maybe I’m being Chicken Little. I hope so. But I fear not.

Legal Insurrection says:

Free speech and the ability to express political ideas is a societal pressure-relief valve. That relief valve is being slammed shut, and the consequences are entirely predictable, particularly combined with organized efforts to get Trump supporters fired and made unemployable.

Democrats and their tech oligopoly friends are drunk with internet power, and feel all-powerful. If history shows us anything, it is that those who seek to repress free expression inevitably increase the repression, and the people repressed find a way to push back. In China, The Communist Party has increased repression through internet control and deplatforming dissenting voices through extensive social media monitoring. It can happen here, and it is. Tech oligopolies have learned well from the Chinese Communist Party.

Parler is the canary in the coal mine. Whether it surives or not, internet repression by tech oligopolies is making the national atmosphere more toxic by the day.

I think that’s very right.

Concerns Regarding Parler

I’ve read a number of disturbing reports from lefties that Parler does the same sorts of things to them that Twitter does to conservatives, bans for no apparent reason, etc. All of the evidence is anecdotal, but it’s anecdotal for Twitter too.

I hope it’s not true. I don’t want it to be true. I don’t want something that’s the opposite of Twitter. I want something that is better than Twitter.

Will continue to follow up on this.

Et Tu, Amazon?

Amazon Suspended Parler From Its Web Hosting (buzzfeednews.com)

There are no words. And with Parler down, there literally will be no words. In the space of 24 hours, Big Tech has banned conservative speech.

Not since September 11, 2001 have I been this fearful regarding the future of America.

Apple Becomes What They Used To Be Against

Remember this?

Today, Apple became Big Brother. They shut down Parler for inciting violence. I’m glad I downloaded the app before they cut if off, but I’m sure Apple will find a way to block that too. In the ad, they tell us that 1984 won’t be like “1984”. Instead, 2021 will be.

Remember, Apple has no problem with Twitter, which allows this:

Just resign now. You lost. Its over. https://t.co/NtrE1yJ2By pic.twitter.com/Y75ewRv5E0

— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) January 6, 2021

But Parler incites violence. Liberal fascism at its finest, folks.

 

What a sad day to be an American.

UPDATE: Remember this? Good times.