January 18 (Reuters) – Parler, a website and popular social networking app for the American far right, has returned partially online with the help of a Russian-owned technology company.
Parler disappeared from the internet when he was dropped by the hosting arm of Amazon Inc. and other partners for moderate restraint after his users called for violence and posted videos glorifying the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol of the United States. United States.
On Monday, Parler’s website was able to be accessed again, albeit only with a message from its chief executive saying it was working to restore functionality.
The Internet protocol address he used is owned by DDos-Guard, which is controlled by two Russian men and provides services that include protection against distributed denial of service attacks, infrastructure expert Ronald Guilmette told Reuters .
If the website is completely restored, Parler users may view and post comments. However, most users prefer the app, which is still banned in the official stores of Apple Inc. and Google.
Parler CEO John Matze and DDoS-Guard representatives did not respond to requests for comment.
Last Wednesday, Matze told Reuters that the company was in talks with several service providers, but did not want to delve deeper.
DDoS-Guard has worked with other racist, right-wing and conspiracy sites that have been used by mass killers to share messages, including 8kun. He has also supported Russian government posts.
The DDoS-Guard website lists an address in Scotland with the company name Cognitive Cloud LP, but which is owned by two men in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, Guilmette said. One of them recently told The Guardian that he was not aware of all the content the company provides.
Critics of Parler said it was a potential security risk that depended on a Russian company, as well as a strange choice for a popular place among self-proclaimed patriots.
Russian propaganda has provoked political divisions in the United States, supporting outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump, and amplifying false narratives about election fraud, but also protests against police brutality.
Parler, who revealed he has more than 12 million users, sued Amazon last Monday after the e-commerce giant and cloud service provider cut the service, citing a moderate moderation in calls for violence. (Report by Kenneth Li and Elizabeth Culliford in New York and Joseph Menn in San Francisco; Lincoln Feast Edition.)