President Donald Trump allegedly planned on joining the social media app Parler under the ‘Person X’ pseudonym, according to information revealed through an Amazon lawsuit. Amazon Web Services recently suspended Parler for violating its terms of service, causing the social media service to initiate legal proceedings. If the suggestion is true, the loss of Parler meant Trump was denied access to an additional social media platform shortly after being banned from several others, following the riots in the U.S. Capitol.
Parler was initially seen as an alternative option for those who felt their freedom of speech was being restricted by services like Twitter. However, Parler ended up under fire for similar concerns, with some claiming that they had been banned from the app. This month, Google removed Parler from the Play Store, stating the decision was the result of the service violating moderation policies put in place to limit posts inciting violence and other dangerous content. Apple then followed suit, citing similar reasons for removing the iOS version of the app. When Parler was removed from Amazon Web Services, Parler responded with a lawsuit requesting Amazon undo the suspension.
According to a report from Bloomberg, Parler CEO John Matze said that Amazon knew Trump intended on joining Parler, having been made aware of the information in October, 2020. Matze went on to say that Amazon shut down Parler in order to deny Trump a place on the social media platform. Amazon responded by denying the claims, stating it suspended Parler due to the social media app failing to properly respond to content which could incite or encourage violence.
As for Trump’s reasoning behind the potential move, it’s likely the same reason why others have recently migrated from Twitter to Parler. Trump needed somewhere to voice opinions and Twitter didn't seem to be that place. Even before the Washington, D.C. riot fallout, Trump had been encountering issues with Twitter. For example, back in July of last year, Trump complained about the site’s trending feature, referring to it as illegal and “disgusting." At one point, Trump even turned to the Supreme Court in a bid to block critics on the micro-blogging platform.
After Twitter banned Trump for posting Tweets deemed to be not in the public interest, it only made sense that Trump would seek a new place to express himself. Since Parler was built on the concept of allowing free speech under the First Amendment, it looked like the perfect platform for the President to turn to. With fewer restrictions on Parler posts, President Trump could voice opinions with less risk of having them removed, or losing access to his account entirely.
Source: Bloomberg
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