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Parler CEO fired: ‘Future no longer in my hands’

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After Twitter banned then-president Donald Trump, Parler was downloaded almost 1 million times.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

Parler CEO John Matze announced that he was fired from his position at the embattled social media platform in an open letter to employees, obtained by Fox News.

“On January 29, 2021, the Parler board controlled by Rebekah Mercer decided to immediately terminate my position as CEO of Parler. I did not participate in this decision,” he wrote.

Matze cited clashes with other executives as the reason for his dismissal. As the right-wing friendly platform was forced offline last month following the Capitol riot, Matze said he wouldn’t budge on the company’s central principles regarding free speech.

“Over the past few months, I’ve met constant resistance to my product vision, my strong belief in free speech and my view of how the Parler site should be managed,” he wrote. “For example, I advocated for more product stability and what I believe is a more effective approach to content moderation.

A source at Parler told Fox News that the company is in the midst of an intense rebranding effort, in an attempt to distance itself from accusations of facilitating hate speech and fake news.

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“I have worked endless hours and fought constant battles to get the Parler site running but at this point, the future of Parler is no longer in my hands,” Matze’s letter continued.

“I want to thank the Parler employees, the people on Parler and Parler supporters for their tireless work and devotion to the company. They are an amazing group of diverse, hardworking and talented individuals and I have the utmost respect for them. Many of them have become my second family.”

After Twitter banned then-president Donald Trump, Parler was downloaded almost 1 million times from Apple’s AppStore and Google Play.

Alongside other mostly left-wing critics, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) accused Parler of providing a space for people to “organize violence” and called on Apple and Google to drop the platform from their stores.

In January 2021, Parler lost a lawsuit attempting to force Amazon to resume hosting the platform.

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