More than a year after Google canceled the Parler app, the tech giant quietly let Parler back onto its Google Play Store.
Parler returned to Google Play after almost two years of absence. “MAJOR NEWS: We're BACK on the Google Play Store! Happy downloading, Android users!” Parler’s Twitter account announced on Sept. 2, tweeting a Google Play link for the app.
Bloomberg reported that Parler agreed to moderate its content “more aggressively” as a condition for its return. Google reportedly said that Parler must “implement robust moderation practices that prohibit objectionable content.” It is unclear if the new content moderation standards could result in an increase of censorship on the platform.
John Matze Jr. and Jared Thomson founded Parler as a pro-free speech alternative to increasingly woke social media companies like Twitter and Facebook. In January 2021, however, Apple, Amazon and Google purged Parler following the events of Jan. 6. Big Tech claimed Parler contributed to the incitement of violence.
Apple and Google refused to carry the platform as a downloadable app, and Amazon went one step further by denying the growing platform access to its servers. Apple restored Parler to its App Store in April 2021, but Google only recently restored Parler to its Play Store, according to Parler’s Sept. 2 tweet.
Parler CEO George Farmer blasted Big Tech in 2021 for banning former President Donald Trump from its platforms while allowing dictators like Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei and actual dictatorships like the Taliban and the Chinese Communist Party to maintain accounts.
Google Play recently barred former President Donald Trump’s TruthSocial app. When asked for clarification by MRC Free Speech America, Google said, “Truth Social is not banned from Google Play. In fact, their app is up for preorder right now: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.truthsocial.android.app&hl=en_US&gl=US.”
The app is, as of the publishing of this piece, available on the Apple App Store and via Internet browser. However, on the Google Play Store, you can only “Pre-register” at this time.
MRC Free Speech America also reached out to Google for comment on its recent restoration of Parler, but did not receive a response before publication of this piece.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment and provide transparency and an equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
