Bulky Dating App Downloads: Trump supporters flock to Parlor

Monday, January 11, 2021

Bulk downloads from dating app
Trump supporters flock to Parlor

One letter can make an important difference: When searching for the Parler app, which is popular with rights-makers, more and more users are downloading the ten-year-old Parlor app. But rioting cannot be planned with it – the tool works like a dating platform.

The ban by Google, Apple and Amazon against the Parler app, which is used by right-wing extremists, has helped another platform achieve unexpected download records: the "social talking app" Parlor soared to the top of the app charts in the USA. In the meantime, the app was even ranked second in the Google and Apple stores, as screenshots on Twitter show. But that is probably a misunderstanding: Users who are supposedly looking for "Parler" accidentally download "Parlor" by mistake and thus catapult the app into the best list.

The app is intended to network strangers so that they can talk about "different topics". According to the developers, the Parlor app, which has existed for around ten years, randomly brings users into conversation with strangers on a wide variety of topics. The principle is similar to that of a dating app. According to the Sensor Tower, Parlor had only 40,000 downloads by December 2020, as the tech platform Futurzone.at wrote. The website – without imprint or information about the developer – reveals little about the app, it is rated very poorly in both the App Store (2.6) and Google's Play Store (2.9).

Amazon pulls the plug: Parler offline

The online service Parler was no longer available on Monday after Amazon discontinued its collaboration as a technical service provider. The world's largest online retailer is also a leading provider of online infrastructure that many start-ups and established companies rely on. Parler described itself as an online platform focused on free speech. In reality it was a kind of Twitter where everything is allowed. The relatively small platform dispensed with any regulation of content and did nothing against hate speech, threats and the dissemination of false information.

In view of the increasingly tough crackdown on Twitter and Facebook against calls for violence and conspiracy theories, supporters of the outgoing US President Donald Trump have recently migrated to Parler. But after the storm on the Capitol in Washington, the air for the new online network became thinner. Apple and Google banned the Parler app from their app stores, referring to the lack of content regulation. It could no longer be reloaded onto the smartphones, but it still worked.

However, since Parler relied on Amazon's cloud server, the service was also canceled when the service provider left. Company boss John Matze had already said on Sunday that the platform would be down for at least a week. However, it is unclear whether there are providers who want Parler as a customer.

Merkel criticizes permanent ban

Trump's accounts on Twitter and Facebook had been blocked until further notice after his supporters stormed the Capitol in Washington. The platforms point to the risk that the president could incite further violence with his statements. People in Trump's circle had repeatedly advertised Parler as an alternative to Twitter or Facebook, which allegedly suppressed conservative views.

There is also criticism of the platform's measures: Chancellor Angela Merkel considers the blocking of Trump's Twitter account to be problematic. Government spokesman Steffen Seibert said in Berlin that the fundamental right to freedom of expression could only be interfered with "within the framework defined by the legislature, not after the decision of the corporate management of social media platforms".