Parler CEO Says He Was Fired After Tumultuous Month For Social Media Upstart - Forbes

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Topline

Dormant social media platform Parler has terminated CEO John Matze, multiple news outlets reported Wednesday, ousting the company’s cofounder and most well-known executive as it struggles to get back online following banishment by Amazon Web Services and allegations it harbored right-wing extremists.

Key Facts

Matze was fired by the company’s board of directors last Friday, he said in a memo to employees obtained by Fox News and shared on Matze’s personal LinkedIn page.

The former CEO said he “did not participate in this decision,” instead singling out Parler investor and conservative megadonor Rebekah Mercer.

He alluded to disagreements in recent months about how the social network should be run, claiming he’s faced “constant resistance.”

Parler did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Crucial Quote

“This is not a goodbye. Just a so long for now,” Matze wrote on LinkedIn.

Surprising Fact

Despite his dismissal, a post by Matze still tops Parler’s website.

Key Background

Founded in 2018, Parler casts itself as an alternative to Twitter and Facebook with a less heavy-handed approach to content moderation. It was popular among conservatives who believe mainstream social networks are hostile to their viewpoints, but critics say Parler’s lax moderation policies turned it into a hub for far-right extremism. In the wake of the riots in the U.S. Capitol last month, Amazon booted Parler from its web hosting service amid fears it had failed to prevent users from posting dangerous content, causing the site to go dark. Since then, Matze has promised to reopen Parler on a new hosting service, but aside from a minimalistic landing page claiming the company is dealing with “technical difficulties,” the social network has remained offline for weeks.

Tangent

Matze’s ouster means the company is losing one of its most prominent public ambassadors. The cofounder was a fixture on conservative media outlets, frequently stopping by for interviews to promote the company and decry perceived missteps by the tech industry. In the weeks following Amazon’s shutdown of Parler, some Fox News hosts portrayed the company as a victim of political censorship, and Matze used the network’s airwaves to argue his site was mistreated by Amazon and other major tech companies.