Trump loyalists and Republicans are flocking to the "alt-right," no-censorship microblogging site Parler to post comments that would either have been banned or flagged by Twitter, Facebook and other mainstream social media sites.
The exodus to Parler is being driven by president Donald Trump's claims that cheating by Democrats robbed him of reelection Nov. 3. Trump's claims are seeing social media sites come down hard on conservative posts spreading alleged falsehoods about the election or calling for violence against Trump opponents.
Downloads of the Parler app have jumped in Apple's App Store and Goolge's Play store in the days after the election. Parler became the No. 1 most downloaded app on the App Store on Sunday after reaching No. 7 the day before.
Mobile app market company Sensor Tower said Parler remained No. 1. In contrast, Parler ranked a lowly 1,023 downloaded app in the week before the election.
Goolge's Play store is also seeing an increase in Parler downloads. Parler became the most downloaded app Monday after ranking 51st Saturday and No. 5 Sunday.
Twitter and Facebook have been cracking down on postelection political misinformation by adding labels to posts - including those shared by Trump.
Decisions by Facebook to act against Trump's attempts to delegitimize the election have helped push conservatives toward Parler. Facebook began hiding search results for the #StopTheSteal hashtag and removed one of its popular groups over "calls for violence."
Since the election conservative thought leaders have encouraged other right-wingers to join Parler.
"Twitter has aided the Democrat Party in stealing this election and now everything Trump says is being silenced. Tell everyone you know to get on Parler," said Laura Loomer, who was permanently banned by Twitter in 2018 for posts against Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar.
Parler was in the headlines earlier this week when the police chief of the city of Marshall in Arkansas resigned after posting social media messages calling on Americans to harm Democrats.
Former police chief Lang Holland, who also believes COVID-19 doesn't exist, told users to kill Democrats. He claimed the election was being stolen from Trump by Democrats.
In another post, Holland threatened to shoot and kill Black Lives Matters supporters and Antifa supporters.
Mayor Kevin Elliot said he confronted Holland with the Parler posts. Holland resigned effective immediately after the meeting. Elliott said Holland's remarks don't reflect the people of Marshall.
Similar in concept and format to Twitter, the Parler Free Speech Social Network claims to offer free expression without violence and no censorship. It calls itself an unbiased social media focused on real user experiences and engagement.
Parler is an alternative to Twitter, and is popular among people banned from mainstream social networks or who oppose their moderation policies.
