What is Parler? 10 things about social networking service based in Henderson, Nevada

Parler is a microblogging and social networking service based in Henderson, Nevada, United States. It promotes free speech, allowing contents banned from other social networks including anti-Semitism, far-right politics and conspiracy theories such as QAnon.

Because of this, many of Parler users are conservatives, right-wing extremists and conspiracy theorists. Here are 13 more things about the platform:

1. It was founded by John Matze, Jr., Jared Thomson and Rebekah Mercer in 2018.
2. Among its first notable Republican users were Brad Parscale, Mike Lee and Rudy Giuliani.
3. By May 2019, its user base grew to 100,000 users.
4. In June 2019, it attracted around 200,000 accounts from Saudi Arabia, most of which were Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman supporters who were banned from Twitter.
5. On July 13, 2020, Brazil’s 38th president Jair Bolsonaro joined the platform.
6. On July 15, 2020, it had around 2.8 million total users.
7. In November 2020, it had more than 10 million users but only 4 million of them were active.
8. It was widely used by the hundreds of the Donald Trump supporters who breached the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., USA on January 6, 2021.
9. After the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, it was banned from the Google Play Store. On January 8, 2021, a Google spokesperson told CNN Business, “In light of this ongoing and urgent public safety threat, we are suspending the app’s listings from the Play Store until it addresses these issues.”
10. On January 9, 2021, Apple removed it from its App Store and Amazon suspended it from its web hosting service.