Parler, Backed by Mercer Family, Makes Play for Conservatives Mad at Facebook, Twitter--Update
November 14 2020 - 03:18PM
Dow Jones News
By Jeff Horwitz and Keach Hagey
As Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. have taken a harder line
against unsubstantiated claims of a stolen presidential election,
prominent conservatives on both platforms have responded with rage
and a frequent retort: Follow me on Parler.
Launched in 2018, the libertarian-leaning social network was the
most downloaded app on both Android and Apple devices for most of
last week, according to data from Google and analytics firm App
Annie. It is not yet clear that Parler is set to become the online
home for the political right, but its leaders envision it as a
free-speech-focused alternative to the giants of Silicon
Valley.
The company's user base more than doubled to 10 million in under
a week, making it difficult for its roughly 30-person staff to keep
up with the flood of new sign-ups.
"You'd fix one thing, and another would blow out," said Parler
chief executive John Matze. "We're now solid at this point."
The platform has deep-pocketed investors to fund further growth.
Hedge-fund investor Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah are
among the company's financial backers, according to people familiar
with the matter. The Mercers, who have not disclosed their
involvement with Parler, have previously financed a number of
conservative causes and backed Cambridge Analytica, the
controversial data firm that worked for President Trump's 2016
campaign.
Representatives for the Mercers declined to comment.
Allies of President Donald Trump have framed Parler's rapid
growth as a rebuke to major tech platforms' efforts to more
aggressively label content or restrict the reach of posts that the
platforms deemed misleading or dangerous. Fox Business anchor Maria
Bartiromo announced she was quitting Twitter for Parler, where she
amassed more than 1 million followers. Conservative talk show host
Dan Bongino -- who is both one of Facebook's most popular content
creators and an investor in Parler -- heralded its growth as "a
collective middle finger to the tech tyrants."
Both of them have continued to post on Facebook and Twitter,
though, raising the question of whether Parler will eventually
complement or replace larger platforms with much bigger
audiences.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 14, 2020 15:03 ET (20:03 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)
Historical Stock Chart
From Feb 2024 to Mar 2024
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2023 to Mar 2024