Was Parler hacked today? The controversial social network is currently offline, with the site having been brought down on January 11, 2021. Users are now left wondering if it has suffered a data breach, or if it is being shut down altogether.
Was Parler hacked?
Parler hasn’t been hacked despite its app and site being offline. These technical issues have arisen as a result of multiple hosts pulling the services that the social network used to remain online, as a result of the role it played in last week’s Capitol riots in Washington, D.C.
As multiple far-right figureheads and Qanon conspiracy theorists used the app to discuss the riots, with reports indicating that further attacks were being planned, Amazon, Apple, Google, and more stepped in to remove it from their services. Parler promotes itself as “unbiased social media” and a “free speech social network,” though it being utilized by those who participated in and supported the Capitol riots overstepped a line for many companies.
Is Parler being shut down?
Parler was used by a mob of pro-Trump rioters and their supporters during the Capitol riots, leading to several services dropping their support of it. Parler was previously using Amazon Web Services for the app, though Amazon has now stated that it is no longer allowing the social network to utilize its cloud services.
After Amazon’s removal of Parler from its service, both Apple and Google dropped the app from its respective online stores. As a result, it is no longer downloadable from either the App Store or the Google Play Store.
Parler then attempted to use a free trial of Okta’s product, with the access management platform also pulling its support. Okta noted that “our platform will not be used for threats of violence and illegal activity.”
We were notified that Parler was using a free trial of Okta’s product and we have terminated Parler’s access to the Okta platform. While we support organizations across the political spectrum, our platform will not be used for threats of violence and illegal activity.
— Okta (@okta) January 10, 2021
Parler founder and CEO released the following statement regarding the downtime:
“We will likely be down longer than expected. This is not due to software restrictions — we have our software and everyone’s data ready to go. Rather it’s that Amazon’s, Google’s and Apple’s statements to the press about dropping our access has caused most of our other vendors to drop their support for us as well.”
It’s unclear if Parler will be able to find a web host to bring itself back online, though with tensions still running high following the Capitol riots, the company that chooses to align with the social network in the meantime will surely face scrutiny.
Following the Capitol riots, Twitch also stepped in to remove a popular emote that was related to a supporter of the attacks on the US government building. Elsewhere, a man who fell from one of the Capitol building’s walls was compared to Link in Breath of the Wild.
