Many employees and executives of Parlement Technologies, the company that created the "censorship-free" social networking site Parler, have been let go during the past few weeks.
The sudden firing of its staff has raised doubts about the future of Parler, one of the earliest conservative alternatives to mainstream platforms.
According to several sources with direct knowledge of the issue, Parlement Technologies began hiring employees in late November. Up to at least the end of December, layoffs took place at Parler and the parent company's cloud services venture, affecting over 75% of the workforce.
A source with knowledge of the matter claims that the majority of the company's executives, including the chief technology, operations, and marketing officers, have been fired.
George Farmer, a conservative influencer and the CEO of Parlement Technologies, which owns Parler, is married to Candace Owens. After Parler was allowed to return to app stores in May 2021, Farmer took over as the company's CEO. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal that was published in February 2021, Matze said he was fired because he sought to alter the platform's moderation policies.
When contacted for comment, an external PR specialist who previously worked on Parler's behalf said she is no longer connected to the business. Parlement Technologies was contacted several times for comment, but no response was given.
The 2018 Parler launch took place at the same time as former president Donald Trump's most vociferous criticisms of social media's alleged discrimination towards conservative users. The website billed itself as a "free speech" alternative to Facebook and Twitter and claimed to have anti-censorship moderation criteria.
The app's popularity soared throughout the 2020 presidential campaign, peaking at over 7,000 new users every minute in November. However, following the violent incident at the US Capitol on January 6, the app was taken down from both the Apple and Google app stores amid claims that it was responsible for organising the violence. These limitations prevented the app from gaining new users.
Parler was first barred from Apple's store for four months, but he eventually got access again after the firm unveiled new rules for moderation. But by then, rumours about Trump launching his social media platform had started to circulate. Gettr and Rumble are two rivals that have entered the "censorship-free" social media market.
Even when competing services started to appear, Parler's user growth slowed to a trickle. The company stated in September of last year that it will start a new venture, Parlement Technologies, to house its social platform and a new "uncancelable" cloud services business. This move was made possible by the company's history of closures. Parlement Technologies purchased the cloud infrastructure from California-based firm Dynascale with their fresh $16 million investment.
Shortly after the purchase, Parlement Technologies wanted to sell Parler to an unwary buyer. One prospective buyer who talked with The Verge claimed that the site had only 50,000 DAUs as of October 2022. Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, and Parlement Technologies announced their deal to be acquired by one another on October 17. Ye uploaded threatening and antisemitic content, which led to the suspension of his Instagram and Twitter accounts and the statement.
Ye recently made headlines for a variety of reasons, including praising Hitler on the Alex Jones conspiracy theory show Infowars and wearing a "White Lives Matter" shirt while attending Paris Fashion Week with Owens. Parlement Technologies declared they would no longer be pursuing a takeover as a result of Ye's appearance on Infowars.
A statement made public by Parlement Technologies, Inc. last month claims that the company has confirmed that Ye and it have agreed to end the original intent behind the sale of Parler. "This choice was taken in the middle of November in both parties' best interests."
Both the Parler social networking platform's future and the amount of individuals employed are unknowns. The company's website now only lists one job opening: data centre manager in Los Angeles.