4 ms·

Who Is Funding Parler?

52 points by draugadrotten 6y ago

fdgdsgdfs 6y ago
Twitter is doing more damage then they can possibly imagine to their business by reacting in such a heavy-handed manner. They are trying to flex their control but by banning people they relinquish the ability to censor and moderate. It's better to be in control of the conversation then to not be privy because it happened beyond your purview.
- anigbrowl 6y ago
  This is not about Twitter.
  - 1234556432dsc 6y ago
    Don't be a fool. Of course it is.
  - 1234556432dsc 6y ago
    And btw, I can create infinite accounts so ban one account, ill get another IP and be back in a few minutes. Flag this
buttholesurfer 6y ago
Who's funding your account?
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
canjobear 6y ago
Interesting info but there must be a better source.
nostrebored 6y ago
The central idea here is that you need to hire large numbers of engineers and have an immense compute footprint to run a site like Parler. This simply isn't true anymore.
- wokwokwok 6y ago
  Why would the required server footprint have changed since previously? I buy it’s easier/cheaper to manage infrastructure, but scale requires infrastructure and I don’t understand why that would have changed.
  - username90 6y ago
    Most forums can run on a single server, scale is cheap when you just exchange text messages.
    - wtallis 6y ago
      BuzzFeed reported yesterday that Parler's AWS bill was over $300k per month: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/johnpaczkowski/amazon-parler-aws https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/johnpaczkowski/amazon-p...
      - username90 6y ago
        Yeah, then this doesn't apply to them, they are funded by something. Just that you don't have to be to have a few million active users.
    - wokwokwok 6y ago
      That’s not what I asked. I asked why the required number of server is smaller than previously, which is what the OP said.
      - username90 6y ago
        Computers are faster than 20 years ago, and amateurs stated and ran big forums 20 years ago.
msandford 6y ago
This is pretty incredible. The idea that a non-left-leaning twitter-alternative must be a Russian ploy to destroy America is pretty rich. We've got a new Cold War, this time led by the Left. It's going to be a wild ride methinks.
- radicalriddler 6y ago
  Not that rich. We saw Trump act as a useful idiot for Putin in the last four years. Perhaps the Kremlin believe they can influence U.S. conservatives easier than liberals. Target those who feel like they're a minority and constantly attacked yada yada. Disclaimer: No sources on this, only my opinion and anecdotally what I've seen over the past few years. Maybe an irresponsible comment that could ignite a flame war. Mods do your thing
- 1234556432dsc 6y ago
  Fun Fact: Most of the backbone cables from China run through Russia rather than under the pacific. It makes distinguishing attacks between the two countries nearly impossible
- artifact_44 6y ago
  Tips fedora...
blueflame7 6y ago
Who is Funding Twitter?
gumby 6y ago
I thought it was out in the open that Rebekah Mercer is funding Parler. Ah yes, the day after this post was written so said npr (https://www.npr.org/2020/11/14/934833214/conservatives-flock-to-mercer-funded-parler-claim-censorship-on-facebook-and-twi https://www.npr.org/2020/11/14/934833214/conservatives-flock... ) and Newsmax (https://www.newsmax.com/politics/rebekah-mercer-parler/2020/11/14/id/997076/ https://www.newsmax.com/politics/rebekah-mercer-parler/2020/... ) Not a secret.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
cr555 6y ago
I know one thing: neutral sure taste different.
randompwd 6y ago
Why link to the first thread in that tweet. The answer is in, like, tweet 20: > Boom. @WSJ has just confirmed that the Mercers and their hedge fund are behind Parler. Also, it's from November 2020.
crazygringo 6y ago
This thread is back from Nov 13, 2020. Any updates in the past 2 months? Edit: as other comments added in the past couple minutes, the answer is Rebekah Mercer (thanks, gumby, for the link): > On Saturday, CEO and co-founder John Matze said one of the privately owned company's early investors is Rebekah Mercer, who along with her father, hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer, has been a backer of President Trump and is also a major donor to conservative causes, including Breitbart News and former White House strategist Steve Bannon. "John and I started Parler to provide a neutral platform for free speech," Rebekah Mercer wrote on Parler on Saturday. https://www.npr.org/2020/11/14/934833214/conservatives-flock-to-mercer-funded-parler-claim-censorship-on-facebook-and-twi https://www.npr.org/2020/11/14/934833214/conservatives-flock...
valvar 6y ago
Just like Americans are funding dissidents and bolstering free speech in Hong Kong in order to undermine democracy there, this is an obvious and blatant attempt by Fascist Russia to undermine American democracy by promoting free speech and undermining repressive and antisocial megacorps!
smitty1e 6y ago
Moot, since Parler may be toast: "Now it seems that Paler[sic] may be finished. Just a short while ago, Parler CEO John Matze was on Fox News to talk about the situation. During that conversation, he revealed that not only will no other hosting service accept them, but their law firm has dropped them." https://redstate.com/streiff/2021/01/10/it-looks-like-the-big-tech-conspiracy-just-killed-parler-n307714 https://redstate.com/streiff/2021/01/10/it-looks-like-the-bi... This is not about any specific political figure or social media platform. This is about whether any traditional concepts of freedom of expression, association, or contract remain. This moment is taking on aspects of a digital French Revolution. May peace prevail instead.
- new_realist 6y ago
  Social media is anything but traditional. It is alien to how traditional human discourse has evolved over millennia. And not alien “in a good way.” It is a monstrosity.
nlitened 6y ago
I don't know anything about Parler's funding and connections in US politics, but the insinuations about the founder's wife are just ridiculous. Young woman from Russia loving Russian flag is somehow bad and unusual? Her mother being an honored engineer somehow implies something bad? A young woman having instagram handle "cherry on top" means anything at all? I am Russian and not the biggest fan of Russian regime, but come on!
ArtDev 6y ago
If you think this has anything to do with free speech, please take some time on Parler. I don't know if these are Russian agents or actual Americans behind some of the pages (probably both) but its page after page of content conspiring murdering public figures. Conspiring murder is a crime for a reason.
rektide 6y ago
this was such a valuable post, raising questions about a shady mysterious new player that all other coverage had just skipped right over. so powerfully good. I think of it semi regularly.
loraa 6y ago
Alt-left just killed these guys.

52 points by draugadrotten 6y ago

Twitter is doing more damage then they can possibly imagine to their business by reacting in such a heavy-handed manner. They are trying to flex their control but by banning people they relinquish the ability to censor and moderate. It's better to be in control of the conversation then to not be privy because it happened beyond your purview.

anigbrowl 6y ago
This is not about Twitter.
- 1234556432dsc 6y ago
  Don't be a fool. Of course it is.
- 1234556432dsc 6y ago
  And btw, I can create infinite accounts so ban one account, ill get another IP and be back in a few minutes. Flag this

buttholesurfer 6y ago

Who's funding your account?

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

canjobear 6y ago

Interesting info but there must be a better source.

nostrebored 6y ago

The central idea here is that you need to hire large numbers of engineers and have an immense compute footprint to run a site like Parler. This simply isn't true anymore.

wokwokwok 6y ago
Why would the required server footprint have changed since previously? I buy it’s easier/cheaper to manage infrastructure, but scale requires infrastructure and I don’t understand why that would have changed.
- username90 6y ago
  Most forums can run on a single server, scale is cheap when you just exchange text messages.
  - wtallis 6y ago
    BuzzFeed reported yesterday that Parler's AWS bill was over $300k per month: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/johnpaczkowski/amazon-parler-aws https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/johnpaczkowski/amazon-p...
    - username90 6y ago
      Yeah, then this doesn't apply to them, they are funded by something. Just that you don't have to be to have a few million active users.
  - wokwokwok 6y ago
    That’s not what I asked. I asked why the required number of server is smaller than previously, which is what the OP said.
    - username90 6y ago
      Computers are faster than 20 years ago, and amateurs stated and ran big forums 20 years ago.

msandford 6y ago

This is pretty incredible. The idea that a non-left-leaning twitter-alternative must be a Russian ploy to destroy America is pretty rich. We've got a new Cold War, this time led by the Left. It's going to be a wild ride methinks.

radicalriddler 6y ago
Not that rich. We saw Trump act as a useful idiot for Putin in the last four years. Perhaps the Kremlin believe they can influence U.S. conservatives easier than liberals. Target those who feel like they're a minority and constantly attacked yada yada. Disclaimer: No sources on this, only my opinion and anecdotally what I've seen over the past few years. Maybe an irresponsible comment that could ignite a flame war. Mods do your thing
1234556432dsc 6y ago
Fun Fact: Most of the backbone cables from China run through Russia rather than under the pacific. It makes distinguishing attacks between the two countries nearly impossible
artifact_44 6y ago
Tips fedora...

blueflame7 6y ago

Who is Funding Twitter?

gumby 6y ago

I thought it was out in the open that Rebekah Mercer is funding Parler. Ah yes, the day after this post was written so said npr (https://www.npr.org/2020/11/14/934833214/conservatives-flock-to-mercer-funded-parler-claim-censorship-on-facebook-and-twi https://www.npr.org/2020/11/14/934833214/conservatives-flock... ) and Newsmax (https://www.newsmax.com/politics/rebekah-mercer-parler/2020/11/14/id/997076/ https://www.newsmax.com/politics/rebekah-mercer-parler/2020/... ) Not a secret.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

cr555 6y ago

I know one thing: neutral sure taste different.

randompwd 6y ago

Why link to the first thread in that tweet. The answer is in, like, tweet 20: > Boom. @WSJ has just confirmed that the Mercers and their hedge fund are behind Parler. Also, it's from November 2020.

crazygringo 6y ago

This thread is back from Nov 13, 2020. Any updates in the past 2 months? Edit: as other comments added in the past couple minutes, the answer is Rebekah Mercer (thanks, gumby, for the link): > On Saturday, CEO and co-founder John Matze said one of the privately owned company's early investors is Rebekah Mercer, who along with her father, hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer, has been a backer of President Trump and is also a major donor to conservative causes, including Breitbart News and former White House strategist Steve Bannon. "John and I started Parler to provide a neutral platform for free speech," Rebekah Mercer wrote on Parler on Saturday. https://www.npr.org/2020/11/14/934833214/conservatives-flock-to-mercer-funded-parler-claim-censorship-on-facebook-and-twi https://www.npr.org/2020/11/14/934833214/conservatives-flock...

valvar 6y ago

Just like Americans are funding dissidents and bolstering free speech in Hong Kong in order to undermine democracy there, this is an obvious and blatant attempt by Fascist Russia to undermine American democracy by promoting free speech and undermining repressive and antisocial megacorps!

smitty1e 6y ago

Moot, since Parler may be toast: "Now it seems that Paler[sic] may be finished. Just a short while ago, Parler CEO John Matze was on Fox News to talk about the situation. During that conversation, he revealed that not only will no other hosting service accept them, but their law firm has dropped them." https://redstate.com/streiff/2021/01/10/it-looks-like-the-big-tech-conspiracy-just-killed-parler-n307714 https://redstate.com/streiff/2021/01/10/it-looks-like-the-bi... This is not about any specific political figure or social media platform. This is about whether any traditional concepts of freedom of expression, association, or contract remain. This moment is taking on aspects of a digital French Revolution. May peace prevail instead.

new_realist 6y ago
Social media is anything but traditional. It is alien to how traditional human discourse has evolved over millennia. And not alien “in a good way.” It is a monstrosity.

nlitened 6y ago

I don't know anything about Parler's funding and connections in US politics, but the insinuations about the founder's wife are just ridiculous. Young woman from Russia loving Russian flag is somehow bad and unusual? Her mother being an honored engineer somehow implies something bad? A young woman having instagram handle "cherry on top" means anything at all? I am Russian and not the biggest fan of Russian regime, but come on!

ArtDev 6y ago

If you think this has anything to do with free speech, please take some time on Parler. I don't know if these are Russian agents or actual Americans behind some of the pages (probably both) but its page after page of content conspiring murdering public figures. Conspiring murder is a crime for a reason.

rektide 6y ago

this was such a valuable post, raising questions about a shady mysterious new player that all other coverage had just skipped right over. so powerfully good. I think of it semi regularly.

loraa 6y ago

Alt-left just killed these guys.