One of its worst months in more than a year, TOPLINE Parler, the self-described “free speech” social media app that is popular with conservatives, made a less-than-triumphant return to Apple’s App Store in May after being forced offline in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Less than 4% of the users who flocked to it in the days before it was deplatformed in January returned.
TOPIC FACTS
Since Parler returned to the Apple App Store on May 17, almost 32,000 customers have downloaded it for the first time. This information was given to Forbes by the app analytics company Sensor Tower.
It is the platform’s lowest month for gaining new users since April 2020, when it received a total of 8,800 downloads, excluding months when it was taken down from the App Store.
Although the most recent statistics don’t cover the entire month, the first ten days of January saw 870,000 new users download the app on Apple devices as a result of a surge in users looking for an alternative to what they perceive to be conservative censorship on websites like Facebook and Twitter.
With data from Sensor Tower suggesting that almost two thirds of new downloads occurred in the first five days of the app’s return, interest in Parler began to fade as the month went on.
IMPORTANT HORIZONS
In the days following the Capitol uprising in January, Parler, a self-described refuge of free expression that has developed into a hotbed of right-wing content, was deplatformed for failing to control violent content. Amazon Web Services declined to continue hosting the service because it did not adhere to its terms of service, which call for an effective system of moderating violent and hateful content. Apple and Google both removed the service from their respective online stores, effectively killing off any chances for future growth.
In an effort to get back online, Parler has sued Amazon twice: once for slander and once in an unsuccessful attempt to get Amazon to resume hosting. Later, the site engaged the aid of two hosting services: DDoS-Guard, situated in Russia, and SkySilk, another hosting service. Following the implementation of an AI-driven content moderation system and “extensive conversations” with the platform’s staff, Apple decided to reinstate it on the App Store.
WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR
According to the Washington Post, Parler is still barred from the Google Play Store, a situation that it doesn’t appear to be eager to resolve. Android customers have options to Google’s own store, whereas a presence on Apple’s App Store is the only way to reach Apple’s massive marketplace.
11.1 million is a BIG NUMBER. According to information from Sensor Tower that was given to Forbes, this is about how many times Parler has been downloaded from the App Store and Google Play. On Apple’s platform, there are about 6 million of these.
ESSENTIAL QUOTE
Shortly after making a comeback to the App Store, Parler named George Farmer, the husband of Trump supporter Candace Owens, a former Brexit Party candidate in the UK, as its new CEO. Farmer is also the son of a right-wing British baron. After being unfairly attacked by the media and its supporters in Big Tech and Congress, Farmer claimed that it had taken the network’s team months to “put Parler back online and return to Apple’s App Store.”
Before Apple deleted TANGENT Parler in January, it had risen to the top of the App Store charts. This was a result of a larger trend towards “free speech”-promoting platforms that month, especially after former President Donald Trump was banned from Twitter and Facebook. Parler has been contacted by Forbes for comment.
