Apple will now allow Parler to re-enter the App Store following the social media platform’s efforts to scale up its content detection and censorship abilities. The platform’s iPhone app, popular among conservatives was removed from the App Store in January following the capital riots, due to the activity on the platform that may have influenced or contributed to the riots.
Parler’s back-end software was also taken down by their web host — Amazon Web Services, and Google Play removed the Android app from its store as well. Parler accused technology companies of a coordinated attack on the platform. However, Apple said that their decision to remove it from the App Store was an ‘independent’ one.
The battle between censorship advocates and censorship opponents will continue to rage on as political tensions rise. The most likely outcome is the fragmentation of social media into multiple platforms with varying censorship policies. Decentralized, censorship-resistant social media platforms are also under development.
