6 ms·

Social media app Parler buys cloud-services provider

40 points by thm 4y ago

millzlane 4y ago
Has anyone actually been banned from the internet for free speech?
- thomascgalvin 4y ago
  Banned? No. Deplatformed? Absolutely. This is very obviously a response to tech companies refusing to work with Parler because of their views.
kgwxd 4y ago
One last grift.
isaacfrond 4y ago
Apparently there is a need 'to focus on customers who run the risk of being pushed off the internet'. Don't get me wrong, I'm not into the alt-righters, but a little push-back against the Google's and Amazon's of the world can't hurt. I've seen a few to many stories of people dropped by Google on a whim. Maybe they can start payment services as well, seems Pornhub might be looking for one in the not so distant future.
- erellsworth 4y ago
  I sort of agree with this, except Parler and their ilk don't actually give a flying fuck about free speech.
  - ChadNauseam 4y ago
    Even people who don’t care about free speech deserve it, I think.
    - tharne 4y ago
      This is exactly right. The other thing is that the only way to guarantee free speech to everyone who deserves it is by going a little too far and giving it people we think don't deserve it.
    - undeIays 4y ago
      So people should be free to prevent others from exercising their freedom of speech?
- i_am_jl 4y ago
  >there is a need 'to focus on customers who run the risk of being pushed off the internet'. Epik has owned this market (at least for the US alt-right) for years, and AFAIK Parler is still hosted and registered there.
  - HKH2 4y ago
    Yeah, Gab is hosted there too.
- csunbird 4y ago
  I also think people should be able to voice their opinions, even if they are very opposed to my personal beliefs. There is a need for that, to evade corporate or state sponsored censorship.
- KMnO4 4y ago
  > Don't get me wrong, I'm not into the alt-righters You don’t need to be into alt-righters to to know that freedom can only exist if we all have it. I’d rather have a current-internet where people are free to host whatever controversial content they wish, than a future-internet where trillion dollar companies decide what opinions are valid.
  - tharne 4y ago
    > You don’t need to be into alt-righters to to know that freedom can only exist if we all have it. More people need to understand this point. Folks don't realize that we're easily corrupted by power and that sooner or later it will be abused. It's not hard, for example, to imagine a future where Amazon and Google start labeling unions as extremist organizations and removing them from internet. That might sound far-fetched, but it would only take a handful of incidents of bad behavior by union members or organizations for tech companies to say, "Look, these organizations are inciting violence in their members."
    - dhimes 4y ago
      Nothing sounds far-fetched after the last few years.
  - jfengel 4y ago
    Certainly. Which is why people get very nervous when alt-righters insist on their freedom to deny freedom to other people. Society is all about resolving conflicts of rights. One of those ways is that privately-owned infrastructure belongs to its owners, who get to say who gets to use it. I'm all for them deciding to use it to chuck off those who want to use it for the explicit purpose of harming others, which is fundamental to the alt-right program. The bits and bytes of the Internet are a mishmash of private and public infrastructure, with no straightforward solution, but I'd agree that even hateful assholes deserve the ability to send and receive IP packets. But I have no problem with any private entities that refuse to help them do that.
    - AbrahamParangi 4y ago
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
krisboyz781 4y ago
- tharne 4y ago
  > Yawn, can’t wait for this bs platform gets ran off. “Freedom of speech” bs is exhausting I think your comment is bs. If you didn't want to hear about "Freedom of speech", you wouldn't have clicked on this story and then proceeded to comment on it.
  - krisboyz781 4y ago
    It’s bs to you and I couldn’t care less. I have absolutely 0 care for the alt right having “the right” to spew whatever hateful bs. If they got banned from the net, I’d be just fine. So again this “freedom of speech” bs is exhausting
btbuildem 4y ago
I've wanted to see an alternative internet for a long time now, but I don't think I've wished for an alt-right internet. This is some djinn stuff.
jrnichols 4y ago
I am surprised that Parler has lasted this long, much less experienced growth.
- r721 4y ago
  SimilarWeb says it's not particularly big: >Global Rank #60,885 >Total [Monthly] Visits 1.2M (SimilarWeb visits are basically user sessions, not views) https://www.similarweb.com/website/parler.com/#overview https://www.similarweb.com/website/parler.com/#overview

40 points by thm 4y ago

millzlane 4y ago

Has anyone actually been banned from the internet for free speech?

thomascgalvin 4y ago
Banned? No. Deplatformed? Absolutely. This is very obviously a response to tech companies refusing to work with Parler because of their views.

kgwxd 4y ago

One last grift.

isaacfrond 4y ago

Apparently there is a need 'to focus on customers who run the risk of being pushed off the internet'. Don't get me wrong, I'm not into the alt-righters, but a little push-back against the Google's and Amazon's of the world can't hurt. I've seen a few to many stories of people dropped by Google on a whim. Maybe they can start payment services as well, seems Pornhub might be looking for one in the not so distant future.

erellsworth 4y ago
I sort of agree with this, except Parler and their ilk don't actually give a flying fuck about free speech.
- ChadNauseam 4y ago
  Even people who don’t care about free speech deserve it, I think.
  - tharne 4y ago
    This is exactly right. The other thing is that the only way to guarantee free speech to everyone who deserves it is by going a little too far and giving it people we think don't deserve it.
  - undeIays 4y ago
    So people should be free to prevent others from exercising their freedom of speech?
i_am_jl 4y ago
>there is a need 'to focus on customers who run the risk of being pushed off the internet'. Epik has owned this market (at least for the US alt-right) for years, and AFAIK Parler is still hosted and registered there.
- HKH2 4y ago
  Yeah, Gab is hosted there too.
csunbird 4y ago
I also think people should be able to voice their opinions, even if they are very opposed to my personal beliefs. There is a need for that, to evade corporate or state sponsored censorship.
KMnO4 4y ago
> Don't get me wrong, I'm not into the alt-righters You don’t need to be into alt-righters to to know that freedom can only exist if we all have it. I’d rather have a current-internet where people are free to host whatever controversial content they wish, than a future-internet where trillion dollar companies decide what opinions are valid.
- tharne 4y ago
  > You don’t need to be into alt-righters to to know that freedom can only exist if we all have it. More people need to understand this point. Folks don't realize that we're easily corrupted by power and that sooner or later it will be abused. It's not hard, for example, to imagine a future where Amazon and Google start labeling unions as extremist organizations and removing them from internet. That might sound far-fetched, but it would only take a handful of incidents of bad behavior by union members or organizations for tech companies to say, "Look, these organizations are inciting violence in their members."
  - dhimes 4y ago
    Nothing sounds far-fetched after the last few years.
- jfengel 4y ago
  Certainly. Which is why people get very nervous when alt-righters insist on their freedom to deny freedom to other people. Society is all about resolving conflicts of rights. One of those ways is that privately-owned infrastructure belongs to its owners, who get to say who gets to use it. I'm all for them deciding to use it to chuck off those who want to use it for the explicit purpose of harming others, which is fundamental to the alt-right program. The bits and bytes of the Internet are a mishmash of private and public infrastructure, with no straightforward solution, but I'd agree that even hateful assholes deserve the ability to send and receive IP packets. But I have no problem with any private entities that refuse to help them do that.
  - AbrahamParangi 4y ago
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

krisboyz781 4y ago

tharne 4y ago
> Yawn, can’t wait for this bs platform gets ran off. “Freedom of speech” bs is exhausting I think your comment is bs. If you didn't want to hear about "Freedom of speech", you wouldn't have clicked on this story and then proceeded to comment on it.
- krisboyz781 4y ago
  It’s bs to you and I couldn’t care less. I have absolutely 0 care for the alt right having “the right” to spew whatever hateful bs. If they got banned from the net, I’d be just fine. So again this “freedom of speech” bs is exhausting

btbuildem 4y ago

I've wanted to see an alternative internet for a long time now, but I don't think I've wished for an alt-right internet. This is some djinn stuff.

jrnichols 4y ago

I am surprised that Parler has lasted this long, much less experienced growth.

r721 4y ago
SimilarWeb says it's not particularly big: >Global Rank #60,885 >Total [Monthly] Visits 1.2M (SimilarWeb visits are basically user sessions, not views) https://www.similarweb.com/website/parler.com/#overview https://www.similarweb.com/website/parler.com/#overview