What is Parler? Thanks for asking!

Since the start of the year, a previously little known social network has been making international headlines. Despite having just 1 million users in July 2020, Parler was the most downloaded app on the US App Store in November, right after the Presidential election. By then, it had reached 10 million users, a figure which rose to 15 million by January 2021. Parler’s user base mainly consists of conservatives, Donald Trump supporters, right-wing extremists and conspiracy theorists.

How did Parler become such a big deal?

Parler was actually founded in 2018, positioning itself as an unbiased alternative to mainstream social networks. It takes its name from the French word parler, meaning “to speak”. Parler has officially described itself as “free speech social media focused on protecting users’ rights.”

Like any other social network, Parler has a web browser version, as well as apps for mobile devices. Users just need an email address and telephone number to register, as well as meeting the minimum age requirement of 13. Unlike on Twitter, users must have an account before viewing posts.

Despite its explosion in users, Parler has been offline since January 11th, when Amazon decided to suspend the site from its web hosting service. Google and Apple also removed Parler from their app stores, making the platform totally unavailable.

That’s quite some rise and fall! Why was Parler taken offline then? What is the current outlook for Parler? Will it come back online? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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