Parler, the "free speech" social media platform, has been abruptly taken offline following its Friday acquisition by digital media conglomerate Starboard. Starboard CEO Ryan Coyne stated that the platform has great potential financially and as a community, as it brings together a large number of users in a single platform. Initially established in 2018 and pitched as one of the more libertarian platforms, with less moderation and emphasis on freedom of speech, the app gained traction amongst those who traditionally like to express their political beliefs more freely. This became highly controversial in January 2021, however, when the app was used to organize the U.S. Capitol attack, with services such as Amazon's AWS, Google's Play App Store, and the Apple App Store threatening to halt distribution of the software and platform.

In order to be able to remain online, Parler had to make changes to its moderation policies and implement the use of artificial intelligence to better ensure the safety of users in the future. Talks of Kayne West buying the platform in October 2020 were largely put on hold, and shortly after Parlement Technologies announced that it had raised $16 million in Series B funding and acquired private cloud company Dynascale Inc., with their goal being to create a robust infrastructure for the platform.

With the new acquisition, Starboard then announced its plan to move away from the strictly conservative-biased platform and people, and to open up to a larger user base that adheres to strong free speech principles. To do this, Parler will be shut down for a period of time, to undergo a "strategic assessment" and introduce the necessary changes. When asked how long this might take, Coyne only mentioned the relaunch would be dictated by the value it can deliver to users, and to make sure it has a sustainable business model, instead of remaining a clone of Twitter for conservative purposes.



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