Google removes the Talking app from the Google Play Store

Google has removed Parler, a popular social networking app among Trump followers, from the Google Play Store, making it much harder for Android users to download and access it.

Google said in a statement that it requires social networking apps to have content moderation policies that eliminate posts that incite violence and that posts on Parler encourage violence after the U.S. Capitol Revolt in early ‘this week.

The withdrawal of the application is due to the violence that Trump supporters on Wednesday caused Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol, which left five dead, and has renewed calls for social media and businesses technology companies are moderating their platforms more closely, especially when it comes to inciting violence.

Twitter permanently banned President Donald Trump’s personal account on Friday because it felt Trump’s most recent tweets incited violence, while Facebook prevented Trump from posting until the inauguration this month.

Screenshots of the Parler app seen by CNBC show users posting references to firing squads, as well as calls to bear arms at the presidential inauguration later this month. In a statement, Google said it warned the app about its content moderation policy earlier this year.

Parler was launched in 2018 and emerged earlier this year as a pro-Trump alternative to Twitter with less content moderation. “We are a community square, an open square, uncensored,” Parler CEO John Matze said in June. “If you can tell it on New York Street, you can tell Parler.”

The Google Play Store is not the only way to install apps on Android phones. Users have the option of alternative app stores, or a process called side loading, which manually installs the software without going through an app store.

The Parler app won’t be removed from users ’phones and is still accessible on the web, even though the website had trouble loading on Friday.

Parler did not immediately return any request for comments on app store withdrawals on Friday. Matze, Parler’s CEO, posted an Apple message on his social network on Friday suggesting that Apple planned to imminently remove the app from its iPhone app store. An Apple representative did not comment immediately.

Here is the full Google statement:

“To protect the safety of users on Google Play, our long-term policies require that applications that display user-generated content have moderation and application policies that remove flagrant content, such as posts that incite violence. the developers accept these terms and we have reminded this in Clear Policy Talk in recent months.We are aware of the continuation of the publication in the Talk application that seeks to incite continued violence in the U.S. content policies and that it can be difficult for applications to remove all content violations immediately, but in order to distribute an application through Google Play, we need applications to implement sound moderation for blatant content. this continued and urgent public safety threat, we are suspending the application lists from Play St pray until you solve them. problems “.