Uncanceled: Parler App Returns to Apple App Store

Spencer Brown | May 17, 2021 2:30 PM

Social media platform Parler announced Monday that its iOS app is relaunching on Apple's app store after being banned in January shortly after reaching the No. 1 spot in the store.

A release from Parler heralded their return, saying "millions of Parler and Apple customers may once again exercise their right to freely exchange ideas and opinions on social media, without viewpoint discrimination."

"Parler's return to the App Store comes after months of productive dialogue with Apple. The dialogue was complemented by a backdrop of important revelations about Parler’s cooperation with law enforcement in the weeks leading up to January 6, as well as the prevalence of violent and inciting content on competing social media networks during that period. Parler contends that these revelations demonstrate that the then-number-one social media app was unjustly scapegoated and deplatformed shortly after January 6."

In order to return to Apple's app distribution platform for iPad and iPhone users, Parler said in its release that the iOS app "excludes some content that Parler otherwise allows" but that the company "plans to continue its discussions with Apple as to the optimal way to handle this content."

Parler faced across the board deplatforming earlier in 2021 when, in addition to having their apps removed from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, their website was kicked from Amazon's AWS hosting service. A few weeks after going dark, Parler secured a new host and returned to the web. At the time, Meckler joined Neil Cavuto to discuss the now-successful plan to negotiate a return to Apple's App Store.