Parler, a Social Network That Attracted Trump Fans, Returns Online
John Matze, a software engineer who was Parler’s co-founder and chief executive, said earlier this month that Ms. Mercer had effectively fired him over disagreements on how to run the site. Ms. Mercer hired Mark Meckler, a leading voice in the Tea Party movement, to replace Mr. Matze.
Before the site’s return on Monday, Parler executives had said they were rejected by multiple web-hosting companies that either feared a public-relations backlash or a cyberattack if they agreed to support the site.
On Monday morning, after Parler suddenly appeared on the web again, data behind its website showed that it was being supported by SkySilk. Hours later, Mr. Matossian, SkySilk’s C.E.O., emailed a statement that said he was taking a stand for Parler.
“SkySilk does not advocate nor condone hate, rather, it advocates the right to private judgment and rejects the role of being the judge, jury and executioner. Unfortunately, too many of our fellow technology providers seem to differ,” he said. “While we may disagree with some of the sentiment found on the Parler platform, we cannot allow First Amendment rights to be hampered or restricted by anyone or any organization.”
About a week after it went offline, Parler set up a basic webpage for people trying to visit its social network with simple messages that said the company was working to get back online and notes of support from conservatives like Sean Hannity, the Fox News host, and Senator Rand Paul, Republican from Kentucky.
That page, which was so simple it could have been hosted from a single laptop, still required cybersecurity protections to stay online, in part because Parler has been under attack from internet vigilantes who believe it helped play a role in the Capitol riot.
To stay online, Parler got help from DDoS-Guard, a Russian firm, which raised concerns among some internet researchers that the Russian government could surveil Parler users. Parler also partnered with Epik, a Seattle company, for its domain registration, a basic service of the internet. Epik has helped support other fringe sites that lost their support from other companies, including the Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi site.
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