'Did not participate in this decision': Parler CEO John Matze says he has been fired

An alternative social media platform favoured by the US conservatives, Parler’s Chief Executive Officer John Matze has said that he has been dismissed from the position on February 3. His announcement followed Amazon’s January 11 decision to remove Parler from its web-hosting service over its unwillingness to remove the posts that called for rape, killing and torture of politicians, tech giant executives among others. Following the US Capitol attack on January 6, it was also found out that the messaging service was used by the rioters to plan the siege by the supporters of then-US President Donald Trump. Even Google and Apple scrapped Parler from their respective online mobile application stores.

“This is not a goodbye. Just a so long for now,” wrote Matze reportedly in a post on the professional networking site LinkedIn and expressed gratitude towards the Parler employees. Now the former CEO of Parler linked to a report by Fox Business citing a memo from him to the employees that he was fired on January 29 by the company’s board controlled by conservative donor Rebekah Mercer. 

“The Parler board controlled by Rebekah Mercer decided to immediately terminate my position as CEO of Parler,” the memo said according to AP report. “I did not participate in this decision.”

On January 22, a federal judge had even rejected Parler’s request to order Amazon to restore the web service. Matze had co-founded the platform in 2018, said in a court filing that Parler’s sudden shutdown was motivated, partly by a “desire to deny President Trump a platform on any large social-media service”. The platform favoured by the far-right in the United States witnessed a surge in users following the US Capitol attack last month and Donald Trump’s account was indefinitely suspended from Twitter.

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‘Parler Could Be Restored On Apple Store…’

Apple CEO Tim Cook on January 17 said that Parler, the social media platform suspended by the tech giant earlier this month, could return to its store if it changes its content moderation policy. While speaking to Fox News, Cook said it could restore Parler on App Store if the platform changes the way it moderates content. Apple CEO said that it has not banned Parler permanently, but has only suspended it until it changes the way it moderates content. 

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Read - Apple CEO Tim Cook Says Parler Could Be Restored If It Changes Reforms

(Image credits/ Inputs: The Associated Press)