Parler co-founder and CEO John Matze in Washington, June 11, 2019.
Parler CEO John Matze announced Wednesday evening that he has been relieved of his duties as the company’s chief executive officer.
Matze said Parler’s board decided to terminate his position on Jan. 29, adding that he was not involved in the decision.
Parler’s board is controlled by Rebekah Mercer, the daughter of hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer.
In a memo, Martz said, “I am aware that those individuals who now control the company have made a number of communications to employees and other third parties that, unfortunately, have created confusion and prompted me to make this public statement.”
Social Media Parler.
“Over the past few months, I have faced constant resistance to my product vision, my strong belief in freedom of expression, and my views on how Parler should be managed. For example, I have advocated for more product stability and what I believe to be a more effective approach to content moderation.” Martz adds.
“I have put in countless hours and fought a constant battle over the past few weeks to get the Parler site up and running, but at this point, the future of Parler is no longer in my hands.”
Martz said he plans to take a few weeks off.
“After that, I’ll look for a new opportunity, a place that needs and respects my technical acumen, my vision, and the causes I’m passionate about.” He said.
“I want to thank the Parler staff, Parler users and supporters for their tireless efforts and dedication. They are an amazing group of people, full of diversity, hard work and talent, and I hold them in the highest regard. Many of them have become a second Family to me.” Marz added.
“I want to thank all the people who have supported me and the platform. It’s been a true American dream: an idea that came to me in my living room and ended up being a company of considerable value. I’m not saying goodbye, just goodbye for now.”
Fox News was the first to report the news of Martz’s termination.
In early January, Parler was removed from Apple and Google‘s App stores because the two tech giants believed it lacked controls over violent content posted by users, a claim Parler denied.
The targeted regulation by the two companies appears to have been triggered by the riots and violence that took place at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Apple said Parler was used to coordinate a break-in at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
In suspending Parler from its app store, Google cited two posts on Parler, one of which began, “How do we take back our country? About20 or so coordinated hits” and another post promoting the “Million Militia March” in Washington, D.C. The other was the “Million Militia March” in Washington, D.C.
Anyone who buys an Apple phone is obviously a user… apparently they believe that Parler is responsible for all user-generated content on Parler,” Maz said in a statement in response to Parler being taken down. By the same logic, Apple must be responsible for all illegal actions using period phones, every car bomb, every illegal conversation, every illegal crime committed using an Apple phone.”
“Twitter, Facebook, and even Apple itself, are not held to this standard, but hold Parler to it,” he added.
Soon after, on Jan. 10, Amazon removed Parler from its web hosting service, citing what it called “repeated violations” of Amazon’s terms of service.
In an email obtained, Amazon told Parler representatives, “In the past few weeks, we have reported 98 cases of posts to Parler that clearly encourage and incite violence.”
Since then, Parler has been offline. For reasons unknown, Parler’s attempts to restart it in February were unsuccessful.
Parler sued Amazon on Jan. 11, demanding that Amazon restore its Web hosting service. U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein dismissed Parler’s request on Jan. 21.
John Matze, founder and CEO of Parler, in a 2019 interview with “American Thought Leader. (Video screenshot/The Epoch Times)
Matze had informed in mid-January that his company’s terms of service, previously approved by Apple, Amazon and Google, had indeed been approved. Before Parler’s explosive growth, these tech giants had never indicated that Parler did not comply with the rules.
After several prominent conservatives, including President Trump (Trump), were blocked from Twitter, Parler users saw a significant increase. Mazzie said Parler had its hands full trying to regulate the content of this new wave of users’ posts.
Martz said he sees the move by big tech companies against Parler as a “coordinated attack” that “killed competition in the marketplace.
“We succeeded too quickly.” He added.
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