Parler squeezed as Trump seeks new online megaphone

President Donald Trump has been kicked off of most mainstream social media platforms following his supporters siege on US Capitol. But it remains to be seen how fast or where — if anywhere — on internet he will be able to reach his followers.

far right-friendly Parler had been leading candidate, at least until Google and Apple removed it from ir app stores and Amazon decided to boot it off its web hosting service by midnight Pacific time on Sunday.

Parlers CEO said that could kck it offline for a week, though that might prove optimistic. And even if it finds a friendlier web-hosting service, without a smartphone app, it's hard to imagine Parler gaining mainstream success.

2-year-old magnet for far right claims more than 12 million users, though mobile app analytics firm Sensor Tower puts number at 10 million worldwide, with 8 million in US That's a fraction of 89 million followers Trump had on Twitter.

Still, Parler might be attractive to Trump since it's where his sons Eric and Don Jr. are already active. Parler hit headwinds, though, on Friday as Google yanked its smartphone app from its app store for allowing postings that seek “to incite ongoing violence in U.S.” Apple followed suit on Saturday evening after giving Parler 24 hours to address complaints it was being used to “plan and facilitate yet furr illegal and dangerous activities.” Public safety issues will need to be resolved before it is restored, Apple said.

A mess seeking comment from Parler was sent Sunday on wher company plans to change its policies and enforcement around se issues.

Amazon struck ar blow Saturday, informing Parler it would need to look for a new web-hosting service effective midnight Sunday. It reminded Parler in a letter, first reported by Buzzfeed, that it had informed it in past few weeks of 98 examples of posts “that clearly encour and incite violence” and said platform “poses a very real risk to public safety.” Parler CEO John Matze decried punishments as “a coordinated attack by tech giants to kill competition in marketplace. We were too successful too fast,” he said in a Saturday night post, saying it was possible Parler would be unavailable for up to a week “as we rebuild from scratch.” Earlier, Matze complained of being scapegoated. “Standards t applied to Twitter, Facebook or even Apple mselves, apply to Parler.” He said he “wont cave to politically motivated companies and those authoritarians who hate free speech.” Losing access to app stores of Google and Apple — whose operating systems power hundreds of millions of smartphones — severely limits Parlers reach, though it will continue to be accessible via web browser. Losing Amazon Web Services will mean Parler needs to scramble to find ar web host, in addition to re-engineering.

Trump may also launch his own platform. But that won't happen overnight, and free speech experts anticipate growing pressure on all social media platforms to curb incendiary speech as Americans take stock of Wednesdays violent takeover of U. Capitol by a Trump-incited mob.

Twitter ended Trumps nearly 12-year run on Friday. In shuttering his account, it cited a tweet to his 89 million followers that he planned to skip President-elect Joe Bidens Jan. 20 inauguration, saying it gave rioters license to converge on Washington once again.

Facebook and Instagram have suspended Trump at least until Inauguration Day. Twitch and Snapchat also disabled Trumps accounts, while Shopify took down online stores affiliated with president and Reddit removed a Trump subgroup. Twitter also banned Trump loyalists including former national security advisor Michael Flynn in a sweeping purge of accounts promoting QAn conspiracy ory and Capitol insurrection. Some had hundreds of thousands of followers.

In a statement Friday, Trump said: "We have been negotiating with various or sites, and will have a big anuncement soon, while we also look at possibilities of building out our own platform in near future.” Gab is ar potential landing spot for Trump. But it, too, has had troubles with internet hosting. Google and Apple both booted it from ir app stores in 2017 and it was left internet-homeless for a time following year due to anti-Semitic posts attributed to man accused of killing 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue. Microsoft also terminated a web-hosting contract.

Online speech experts expect social media companies led by Facebook, Twitter and Google's YouTube to more vigorously police hate speech and incitement in wake of Capitol rebellion, as Western democracies led by Nazism-haunted Germany already do.

David Kaye, a University of California-Irvine law professor and former UN special rapporteur on free speech believes Parlers of world will also face pressure from public and law enforcement as will little-kwn sites where furr pre-inauguration disruption is w apparently being organized. y include MeWe, Wimkin, Donald.win and Stormfront, according to a report released Saturday by Alea Group, which tracks disinformation.