Yesterday, the social-media platform Parler—which has become popular among various segments of the hard right—sued Amazon for denying it access to its web-hosting services, effectively driving it off the Internet. Amazon took this action on Sunday, expressing concern that the platform had been used to incite last week’s riot at the Capitol. In November, the Simon Wiesenthal Center produced a report on anti-Semitic content found on the website:
Parler is a social-media platform launched in August 2018, . . . described by Forbes as a “barebones Twitter.” It provides users with personalized profiles, a basic news feed, and the option to follow other users. The timeline is chronological and supposedly does not use algorithms to curate the feed’s content. . . . The primary reason users are registering with Parler appears to be because of its promise to be a space for free speech, safe from ideological and political censorship. Parler states it “does not mine or sell user data, and does not censor content based on politics or ideology.” . . . Parler’s main user base appears to be politically conservative, with many supporting President Trump and the Republican party.
To date, Parler has allowed users to express anti-Semitic beliefs and conspiracies. These users frequently allege that Jewish people are responsible for many of the ills facing the world, including mass immigration, COVID-19, child trafficking, and civil unrest. These allegations are updated manifestations of old anti-Semitic conspiracies which have accused that a secret Jewish cabal controls the world for political and financial gain. Many posts feature stereotypical caricatures intended to mock and demonize Jewish people. Some indicate Jewish control or Jewish individuals by using the three parentheses (((“echo”))) to highlight particular words or names. Other posts are even more explicitly anti-Semitic, contending Jews worship at the “Synagogue of Satan” or dehumanizing Jews as parasites.
There are also multiple accounts promoting Holocaust denial on Parler. Some use Parler to share posts with their own content about the Holocaust, while others link to external sites and repositories to disseminate Holocaust-denial material. Many use the hashtag #holohoax which groups the content together. Posts promote various Holocaust-denial conspiracies, arguing that the gas chambers were a hoax and that six million Jews did not die. Some posit that the Jews invented the idea of a Holocaust for political and financial gain—a favorite [canard] of the Holocaust denying Iranian regime of Ayatollah Khamenei.
Read more on Simon Wiesenthal Center: https://www.wiesenthal.com/about/news/parler-report.html