John Matze (Image source: Fox News video screenshot)

Ousted Parler CEO John Matze says he didn't want deal with Trump



Former Parler CEO John Matze says he was against a deal that gave former President Donald Trump partial ownership of the social media firm in exchange for making the site his exclusive platform, disclosing in a new interview that he believes Trump "might have bullied people inside the company."

What are the details?

Matze, who was terminated by Parler's board of directors last week, sat down with "Axios on HBO" and confirmed to the outlet that Parler and Trump representatives discussed a potential agreement to serve both parties — but Matze was against it.

Buzzfeed News first reported Friday that Parler was in talks with Trump associates before he left office regarding a proposal that would have granted the Trump Organization "a 40% stake in the company" if Trump would "make Parler his primary social network."

"I didn't like the idea of working with Trump, because he might have bullied people inside the company to do what he wanted," Matze told Axios. "But I was worried that if we didn't sign the deal, he might have been vengeful and told his followers to leave Parler."

Buzzfeed reported that the deal was never finalized, but legal experts said the discussions alone, which occurred while Trump was still in office, raise legal concerns.

According to the outlet:

During a subsequent phone interview, Matze told Axios the Mar-a-Lago meeting was set up by Jeffrey Wernick, an early Parler investor and its eventual chief operating officer. He says it lasted a few hours and that he didn't sleep over at the private club in Florida where Trump now lives.

Matze adds he doesn't know if the first offer was made by Wernick or by Trump campaign officials.

What's the background?

Parler has been almost entirely de-platformed after major tech firms Apple and Google pulled the app from cellphones last month and Amazon then refused to provide server hosting for the social networking firm over accusations that the company was not doing enough to moderate content in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Parler became a safe haven for conservative voices since it launched in 2018, by marketing itself as a free speech alternative to censor-loving networks Twitter and Facebook.

The company's future is not clear, and Matze's position as chief executive was a casualty as the company works to find a hosting service willing to make it widely available online once again.

Matze told Fox Business he is still not entirely sure why he was let go as CEO from the company he founded.

Former Parler CEO John Matze speaks out on why he was fired www.youtube.com

Parler CEO John Matze says he has been fired by board



Parler CEO John Matze has been fired by the company's board of directors according to an email he sent to employees of the firm, where he declared that the future of the de-platformed social media outlet "is no longer in my hands."

What are the details?

Fox Business obtained the memo, reporting that Matze explained, ""On January 29, 2021, the Parler board controlled by Rebekah Mercer decided to immediately terminate my position as CEO of Parler. I did not participate in this decision."

He wrote further:

"Over the past few months, I've met constant resistance to my product vision, my strong belief in free speech and my view of how the Parler site should be managed. For example, I advocated for more product stability and what I believe is a more effective approach to content moderation. I have worked endless hours and fought constant battles to get the Parler site running but at this point, the future of Parler is no longer in my hands."

Matze said that he will take it easy for the next few weeks, and "after that, I'll be looking for new opportunities where my technical acumen, vision and the causes I am passionate about will be required and respected."

Conservative pundit Dan Bongino, who has an ownership stake in Parler, issued a video statement following the news of Matze's termination where he took issue with some of Matze's claims. Bongino confirmed that Matze had been let go, but said it was himself and "the other owners of the company" that had the "free speech vision." Bongino said that Matze's vision "was not ours."

What's the background?

Parler was founded in 2018, marketing itself as the free speech alternative to other social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, both of which have ramped up their censorship in recent years. Conservatives flocked to the site in campaigns aimed at punishing existing platforms over accusations of big tech's political bias against the right.

Parler came under fire earlier this year after it did not follow suit as other social media sites issued crackdowns and even bans on President Donald Trump and several Trump advocates following the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Parler was hit with accusations that it did not have an adequate moderation policy, leading Apple to block the Parler app from iPhones, and Google to block the Parler app from Android phones. Amazon Web Services then pulled the plug on Parler's platform altogether by ending its hosting of the social media site's servers.

Parler CEO Condemns Big Tech Tyrants: ‘When Somebody Does Evil, You Don’t Let Them Get Away With It’

"What they've done is devastating. We're going to overcome it," Parler founder and CEO John Matze said of Amazon's decision to boot the free-speech platform.

Parler CEO claims he has received death threats amid platform shutdown, rips Big Tech for kowtowing to Democrats



Parler CEO John Matze said this week that he has been facing death threats in the days following his platform shutdown.

He also said that the de-platforming is nothing short of unconstitutional, and that technology companies like Amazon, Apple, and Google are kowtowing to Democrat demands.

What's a brief history here?

Between Friday and Saturday, Google and Apple removed Parler from its app stores.

A day later, Amazon Web Services suspended the social media network's web hosting abilities, citing the company's reported refusal to remove inciting content shared by its users, which it said ultimately resulted in contributing to last week's deadly riots at the U.S. Capitol.

Parler filed a lawsuit on Monday that accused Amazon Web Services of breaching its contract and the violation of an antitrust law over the move.

Amazon Web Services said in response that it warned the site about user posts repeatedly, but to no avail.

"People have acted on these calls: Parler was used to incite, organize, and coordinate the January 6 attack on the US Capitol," Amazon Web Services said Tuesday in its court filing on the suit.

What are the details?

According to a Tuesday report from Newsweek, Matze revealed that he heard through news headlines that Apple, Google, and Amazon all had a hand in shuttering his web application, prohibiting users from downloading, logging on, or even viewing the social media site.

Matze told Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Monday that he is now receiving death threats.

"People are threatening my life," he said. "I can't go home tonight. This is really a lot. This is not just our civil liberties. [Big Tech] can shut down a billion-dollar company, half-a-billion dollar company, overnight."

He did not specify the threats he purportedly received.

According to the outlet, Matze also said that he never thought the tech giants would actually shut down such a site.

"I've theorized about it, we've definitely theorized about it," he said. "You just never think it will happen though. What's really interesting is that they all did it on the same day, those three, without any prior warning."

He added that there is varying reactions to the site's shutdown, but there are many people who are "egging it on and cheering."

"I have seen a lot of people say this is scary, but I've seen a lot of people who are participating in the five minutes of hate and egging it on and cheering," Matze said. "It is disgusting."

A spokesperson for Google told the outlet that the app will remain absent from the Google Play store until the application addresses the speech issues.

"We're aware of continued posting in the Parler app that seeks to incite ongoing violence in the U.S.," the statement began. "We recognize that there can be reasonable debate about content policies, and that it can be difficult for apps to immediately remove all violative content, but for us to distribute an app through Google Play we do require that apps implement robust moderation for egregious content."

The statement continued, "In light of this ongoing and urgent public safety threat, we are suspending the app's listings from the Play Store until it addresses these issues."

Parler CEO tells Tucker they are fighting for survival after mass Big Tech ban - 2021.01.12www.youtube.com

Anything else?

Matze said that he believes the site will be operational again "one day."

"We will be back up eventually because we're not going to give up," he insisted. "But soon is difficult. I thought immediately, 'No problem, I'll call up a new vendor.' We call up the vendor, we're all good to go, and then right at the last second, 'Sorry, somebody said something and we can't host you. 'Bye.' And it's been that one after another since then. Right at the last minute they just bail. We're going to do it. We're going to be back online one day, and hopefully soon, as soon as possible. But this is a real challenge. We have to build our own infrastructure, our own everything, in order to do it."

In an interview published Tuesday, Matze said that the suspension is nothing short of unconstitutional.

"I think it's sick," he said. "That's not what the Constitution said. That's not what the Constitution stands for, banning 10-plus million US voters from the internet, barring people from free speech."

He also said that tech companies are simply placating Democrats who are looking for a finger to point after the Capitol riots.

Fox News reported, "[Rep. Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), recently urged Apple and Google to take action against Parler, in a tweet the leader of the so-called 'Squad' of progressives sent to her 11.4 million followers. Ocasio-Cortez isn't alone. Many people on the left have made similar complaints."

Of the complaints, Matze said, "Frankly, I would call it evil, because my definition of evil is 'forcing your will upon others.' If you don't like what I have to say, you can disagree with me, but you cannot take vindictive action against me without being evil."

Apple, Amazon deplatform Parler for not moderating content: 'Incites violence against others'



Parler, the new social media platform that has been a refuge for Trump supporters amid increased moderation by traditional platforms like Twitter and Facebook, has been suspended by Apple and Amazon.

Apple had threatened on Friday that it would remove Parler from its App Store if the company did not moderate content posted to the platform, which Apple deemed had helped facilitate deadly violence in Washington, D.C., last week.

What did Apple say?

The company removed Parler from the App Store late Saturday, claiming the alternative social media platform did not adequately address its concerns about content moderation.

"We have always supported diverse points of view being represented on the App Store, but there is no place on our platform for threats of violence and illegal activity," Apple told The Hill in a statement. "Parler has not taken adequate measures to address the proliferation of these threats to people's safety."

Apple said Parler's suspension from the App Store would continue "until they resolve these issues."

The development is a major blow for the growing platform, which was the top free app in the Apple App Store at the time of its removal. On Friday, Google removed Parler from the Google Play Store over similar concerns. This means Parler is now unavailable for download on the two most widely used smartphone operating systems.

What did Amazon do?

In a surprising move late Saturday, Amazon informed Parler that it would suspend the social media app's use of Amazon Web Services' hosting servers.

"Recently, we've seen a steady increase in this violent content on your website, all of which violates our terms. It's clear that Parler does not have an effective process to comply with the AWS terms of service," Amazon told Parler in an email, BuzzFeed News reported.

"[W]e cannot provide services to a customer that is unable to effectively identify and remove content that encourages or incites violence against others," the email added. "Because Parler cannot comply with our terms of service and poses a very real risk to public safety, we plan to suspend Parler's account effective Sunday, January 10th, at 11:59PM PST."

Fortunately for Parler, Amazon said they would work with Parler's team to ensure all of its server data is protected.

"We will ensure that all of your data is preserved for you to migrate to your own servers, and will work with you as best as we can to help your migration," Amazon said.

How did Parler respond?

After Amazon's announcement, Parler CEO John Matze said there "is the possibility Parler will be unavailable on the internet for up to a week as we rebuild from scratch."

Matze criticized the deplatforming effort by Google, Apple, and Amazon, calling it "unprecedented, unfounded and absolutely disgusting."

"We are the closest thing to competition Facebook or Twitter has seen in many years. I believe Amazon, Google, Apple worked together to try and ensure they don't have competition," Matze said.

In another post, Matze continued, "We will try our best to move to a new provider right now as we have many competing for our business, however Amazon, Google and Apple purposefully did this as a coordinated effort knowing our options would be limited and knowing this would inflict the most damage right as President Trump was banned from the tech companies."

"This was a coordinated attack by the tech giants to kill competition in the market place. We were too successful too fast," Matze added. "You can expect the war on competition and free speech to continue, but don't count us out."

Parler CEO rips YouTube's 'shameful and deceitful' move to censor information about the 2020 presidential election



Parler CEO John Matze has blasted YouTube's decision to moderate information regarding the 2020 presidential election during a Wednesday interview with Fox News' Laura Ingraham.

Matze appeared on Wednesday's episode of Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle," where he said that the Google-owned tech company is "shameful and deceitful" for the move.

On Wednesday, YouTube announced it would begin removing content that it deemed misleading to viewers by "alleging that widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome of the 2020 U.S. presidential election."

What are the details?

The segment opened with host Laura Ingraham questioning whether the "entirety of conservative thought" could eventually be censored by technology giants following YouTube's big announcement.

"So get this: YouTube is targeting the views of more than 74 million Americans who voted for Trump?" Ingraham began. "Maybe concerned about the integrity of the election?"

The 27-year-old tech entrepreneur told Ingraham that he believed it may already be happening.

"YouTube frankly should be embarrassed. This is shameful and deceitful, and this is why millions of people are coming to Parler," he said of the moderation. "In 2016, comfortable with the conspiracy theory that Russia stole the election; now they have conspiracy theories on YouTube about how aliens created the pyramids, that is all acceptable, but the 2020 election — you can't talk about that — it's pretty crazy."

According to Newsweek, Ingraham, elsewhere during the exchange, "appeared to suggest in the interview that YouTube was hosting propaganda linked to the Chinese and Venezuelan governments, but did not elaborate further."

"If something, John, they say is misleading, does that mean they're taking down all of the commentaries saying that Trump was a Russian agent?" she asked.

Matze shot back, "It sounds like they endorse all content that they have on their platform and they only take down stuff they don't. It sounds like they are acting like a publication. That's why people are uploading their videos on Parler now or going elsewhere."

You can watch a video of the exchange here.

What else?

In a Wednesday statement, YouTube executives said, "Yesterday was the safe harbor deadline for the U.S. Presidential election and enough states have certified their election results to determine a President-elect. Given that, we will start removing any piece of content uploaded today (or anytime after) that misleads people by alleging that widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome of the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, in line with our approach towards historical U.S. Presidential elections."