Social media platform Parler, which was taken offline in January, is coming back. It will be available on the app store for IOS devices. The company submitted for their app to be approved with promised changes in the way they moderate their content. What that means for sure though no one knows yet.
It was also partially responsible for the attack on the U.S. Capitol that occurred on January 6th. With then President Trump helping to fuel the flames on Twitter, and the app that let people “speak freely,” it was a bad combination. Trump was banned from multiple platforms, and will possibly be very vocal on this new version of Parler.
Parler was a troublesome platform with users spouting racist, hateful and bigoted opinions. Amazon cut hosting services to the app following the insurrection.
Since we know nothing of their modifications, we’re weary of what will actually go down.
Congressman Ken Buck sent a letter demanding answers. “The App Review Team has informed Parler as of April 14, 2021, that its proposed updated app will be approved for reinstatement to the App Store.” As soon as the updated app is ready, they say that it will go up immediately.
Apple can always pull the app again, though. Searching through their guidelines it states you can’t have “Defamatory, discriminatory, or mean-spirited content, including references or commentary about religion, race, sexual orientation, gender, national/ethnic origin, or other targeted groups, particularly if the app is likely to humiliate, intimidate, or harm a targeted individual or group.”
To be able to make sure the user generated content doesn’t contain any of the above there need to be certain measures in place.
- A method for filtering objectionable material from being posted to the app
- A mechanism to report offensive content and timely responses to concerns
- The ability to block abusive users from the service
So knowing all of this the users who previously used the platform may be surprised to find that they either comply with these guidelines or throw them out the window. If it’s the latter however Apple will probably shut it down again. So we’ll see what flies for what’s allowed and what’s not.
