Google has suspended the Parlor social networking app from its Play Store until popular platform “Strong” content moderation is added with many supporters of Donald Trump.
Just as Twitter permanently suspended the US President’s account for the risk of escalating the violence, “the search engine said it was blocking the parlor and gave the Apple Play service 24 hours to submit a detailed moderation plan.
Parlor is a social network where many Trump supporters have migrated after banning themselves on platforms including Twitter. Plans for a protest in Washington, D.C., which ended in a Capitol storm this week, were widely shared at the parlor.
The actions taken by the two Silicon Valley companies mean that the parlor could one day be unavailable for new downloads on the world’s major mobile phone app stores. It will still be available in mobile browsers.
John Matzi, the parlor’s chief executive, said in posts on his service on Friday that Apple was imposing standards on Paul Parlor that it did not apply to itself and that companies were attacking civil liberties. He added in a text message to Reuters: “There is no place on social media to settle riots, violence and insurgency.”
Citing more aggressive policing of political comments on mainstream platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, right-wing social media users in the United States have reached out to parlors, messaging app Telegram and social site Gabe.
In suspending the service, Google, whose software software empowers Android phones, cited its policy against violence-promoting apps and cited recent examples from the parlor, including Friday’s post: “How will we get our country back?” About 20 or more integrated hits “and another one promotes the” Million Militia March “on Washington.
In a statement, Google said: “In order for us to distribute an application through Google Play, we need applications to apply strong moderation to the content we develop. In light of this ongoing and immediate public safety threat, we will suspend the listing of Application * from the Play Store until we address these issues. ”
In a letter seen in the parlor by the Apple Play Store review team, Apple Play Crowds of protesters stormed the Capitol building.
“Content that threatens the well-being of others or is intended to incite violence or other legitimate acts is never acceptable on the App Store,” Apple said in a letter.
Apple Play gave the parlor 24 hours to “remove all objectionable content from your app … as well as any content that could harm people or attack government facilities now or in the future”.
The company also demanded that the parlor submit a written plan to “moderate and filter this content” from the application.
Apple Play declined to comment.
Metz, who calls himself a liberal, established the parlor as a “free-speech-powered” alternative to mainstream platforms, but Trump’s leading supporters went there and started courting right-leaning users.
Those who have joined include commentator Candace Owens, Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and right-wing activist Laura Loomer, who handcuffed herself to the door of Twitter’s New York office fees in 2018 to protest the site’s ban. In November, Reconnaissance activist Rebecca Mercer confirmed that she and her family, including her father and hedge-fund investor Robert Mercer, had funded the parlor.
Metz said of Apple Pal: “Obviously they believe that Parlor is responsible for all user-created content on the parlor. By the same token, Apple Pal must be responsible for all actions taken by their phone. Every car bomb, every illegal cell phone conversation, every illegal crime committed on iPhone, .Pal should also be responsible. “
