Apple Threatens to Ban Parler After Capitol Riot -- 2nd Update
January 08 2021 - 8:39PM
Dow Jones News
By Jeff Horwitz and Tim Higgins
Breaking News:
* Alphabet Inc.'s Google Says It Is Suspending Parler From Its
App Store -- Company
*Google: It is Aware of Posts in App 'That Seeks to Incite
Ongoing Violence' in the U.S.
*Google Says It Requires Play Store Apps to Implement 'Robust
Moderation for Egregious Content'
*The Decision Doesn't Impact Parler's Availability on the Web or
Other Android App Stores -- Google
(More to come.)
Apple Inc. has threatened to ban Parler, a free-speech focused
social-media network favored by conservatives, for failing to
moderate incitements to violence and illegal activity, according to
a notice provided to The Wall Street Journal by John Matze,
Parler's chief executive.
"We have received numerous complaints regarding objectionable
content in your Parler service, accusations that the Parler App was
used to plan, coordinate and facilitate the illegal activities in
Washington DC on January 6," the notice begins. The tech giant said
in order for Parler to remain available in the App Store, it had to
provide detailed information on its content-moderation plans and
"what you will do to improve moderation and content filtering your
service for this kind of objectionable content going forward."
Apple set a deadline of 24 hours for Parler's compliance.
Launched in 2018, Parler has billed itself as a free-speech
friendly and content-recommendation free alternative to larger
social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. It has exploded in
popularity in the run-up to and after the 2020 U.S. presidential
election
While Parler bans spam, threats of violence and other illegal
activity, its rules don't prohibit hate speech and false
information.
Mr. Matze said Parler believes its existing rules against
incitements to violence meet Apple's standards and that Parler is
confident that "we can retain our values and make Apple happy
quickly."
Nonetheless, Mr. Matze said, he was nervous "because the text in
their messaging was fairly confrontational."
In recent years, Apple has shown a willingness in the U.S. to
pull content from far-right creators deemed controversial, pulling
Infowars podcasts in 2018 and Gab AI Inc., a social media app, in
2017. In pulling five Infowars podcasts, Apple said at the time,
they didn't comply with guidelines designed to create a safe
environment for users.
Write to Jeff Horwitz at Jeff.Horwitz@wsj.com and Tim Higgins at
Tim.Higgins@WSJ.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 08, 2021 20:24 ET (01:24 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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