Parler can exist without the App Store and Google Play. Apple has pulled Parler from the App Store after giving the company over 24 hours to introduce moderation and remove posts advocating for violence. They didn’t. Google didn’t even give them the chance, they removed the app from Google Play. Still, on Android you can sideload apps. This means you can just download the app file (an apk) from Parler and load it on your phone. Parler’s website currently has their Android app available this way. Also, if you downloaded Parler for iOS in the past, you can still reinstall it. Still, both Apple and Google did what they could to stop new users from signing up on Parler, and to remove support for the app that users gathered on to plan the January 6th attack on the Capitol, as well as future attacks.
This wasn’t enough. People could still use Parler if they had already downloaded the app or just by accessing it online. That’s why Amazon’s announcement last night was the true death knell for Parler. Amazon announced that they would kick Parler off of their Amazon Web Services (AWS) hosting at the end of the day today. As Monday begins on midnight, January 11th, Parler will go dark.
Okta, Twilio, Zendesk, and likely other companies have joined Amazon and Google in banning Parler from their services. This will make working for Parler incredibly difficult, as well as break apart key points of Parler’s infrastructure.
These would be devastating issues at large companies with a great deal of competent employees. Instead, it’s happening at Parler. It’s doubtful that the handful of engineers who work at Parler will be able to fix this in a timely manner.
By Monday, Parler will likely be dead, never to fully recover.
In This Article:
AWS Hosting
We won. Our statement: https://t.co/8SzvJwBYcx
— Amazon Employees For Climate Justice (@AMZNforClimate) January 10, 2021
Amazon has announced that, due to the violence spreading on Parler, they’d drop the social network from their platform. AWS handles, among other things, hosting services. This is where the website lives. All websites are just collections of files on a server somewhere. AWS rents space on those servers to companies, so they can put their websites there. Self-hosting has a lot of overhead, from managing content delivery networks, caching, security, and access rates. The truth is, it’s an incredibly difficult task. That’s why so many companies, even large ones, do not self-host.
Parler’s CEO says that, without AWS, they’ll be offline for at least a week while they “rebuild from scratch.” They may have to find a new host, or decide to start building their own hosting, if they can afford to do so.
Okta’s Role
We were notified that Parler was using a free trial of Okta’s product and we have terminated Parler’s access to the Okta platform. While we support organizations across the political spectrum, our platform will not be used for threats of violence and illegal activity.
— Okta (@okta) January 10, 2021
Okta announced dropping support for Parler via a public reply to a Twitter account that has been reaching out to companies Parler relies on. Okta helps companies use a single sign on and two-factor authentication to log into many services without needing multiple passwords and two-factor authentication solutions. It’s a one stop shop for your accounts and services. Replacing it would mean every employee would need to make accounts for all of the services they use and set up authentication properly. It could mean some services will be dropped, and others will have less security.
This will definitely slow down Parler’s recovery efforts.
Twilio Messaging and Authentication
https://twitter.com/jamestitcomb/status/1348289688302362629?s=20
Parler uses Twilio to send texts and provide authentication for users. You can’t sign up for Parler without your phone number. Parler then sends you authentication to your number through Twilio, and you use the authentication code to log in. Without Twilio, Parler will have to find another way to allow users to sign up. Due to the users dropping off, they may decide to get rid of authentication. However, this would open them up to fake accounts, toll accounts, and bots. They could try to find another service, or try to make their own, but both efforts would take substantial time.
Even if Parler wasn’t going offline when AWS drops them, they’d have no way to authenticate new users.
Zendesk Drops Support
Deplatforming works. https://t.co/mbxfs8xwla
— Gregg Housh (@GreggHoush) January 10, 2021
Okay, that one’s a pun. Zendesk provides customer support for Parler. Well, provided customer support for Parler. In what appears to be a DM to an account that has been contacting companies that Parler relies on, Zendesk stated that Parler’s account was in violation of their content policy and they’d remove them from their service. This means that, as Parler goes offline, their users won’t have any way to contact support. In every way they try to reach out to Parler, they’ll just find silence.
More to Come…
He’s wrong. Defending free speech means making people safe to speak.
This is just the beginning of Parler’s trouble. Like Gab, Stormfront, 8chan, and others before it, Parler will fall into obscurity. Employees who may have thought that perhaps it’s not a network that would be used for violence will not want to work there anymore. They’ll leave. Companies will continue to drop support for Parler. They’ll likely have to be self-hosted, which is a demanding task. Even large companies are using hosting services from companies like Amazon and Microsoft now. Their DDOS protection and CDN services will likely evaporate as they kick them off their network, just like Cloudflare did for 8chan. Parler’s not going to be able to find anyone willing to work with them.
It won’t be as though they’ll have much money to work with. Investors will pull out, knowing a poor investment when they see one, even if they do believe in its cause. Since users can’t be verified, can’t access the service regularly, and won’t have the publicity they want, they’ll drop off, ending what little revenue Parler was getting out of them. This was supposed to be a for-profit company. It just won’t survive as a passion project.
As of next week, Parler will be dead. Twitter and Facebook have banned Trump, along with other social networks. Soon, Trump will have no social networks to spread his violent rhetoric on, and his followers will find there’s no place for them either. Parler users have been threatening to attack the headquarters of the companies dropping support for Parler, proving them right to do so. Parler is a place for violence.
When will they learn? Free speech isn’t “anyone can say anything.” It’s moderated. The only way people can be free to speak is if they do not fear doing so. No one has free speech when others can threaten violence.
Hopefully popping their ideological bubble will help Trump’s followers find some new ideas of their own, perhaps even heal.
Sources:
- Kim Lyons, The Verge
- Jonathan Shieber, Danny Crichton, TechCrunch