Parler has still not been allowed back into Apple’s App Store after it was removed in January, and they say it’s because Apple keeps demanding more and more, making it more difficult for them:
DC EXAMINER – Social media platform Parler is accusing Apple of moving the goal posts and making it more challenging for the site to get back on the tech giant’s app store after its initial ban.
Apple is now requiring Parler to remove not just violence-inducing content but also all hate speech, according to Parler, making it more difficult and confusing for the platform to gain entry into the popular app store once again.
Parler, which is popular with conservatives, was first kicked off the app store in January for inciting violence related to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. In March, the platform was denied reentry into Apple’s app store because Apple ruled Parler’s new community guidelines were still insufficient to comply with the app store rules.
“So it was interesting because prior to the March appeal we put in, the only discussion we had with Apple was about violent or inciting content,” Amy Peikoff, Parler’s chief policy officer, told the Washington Examiner in an interview.
“And then, after their recent rejection, Apple then started talking about so-called hate speech on Parler,” Peikoff said.
Parler has hired a third-party vendor to remove violence-inducing content using algorithmic flagging and human review and already has a “troll feature” that will filter out objectionable or hate speech if users choose. Despite these two significant steps, Parler remains banned from the app store.
This is a complete double standard…
She said Apple applies a “double standard” in content moderation. Facebook and Twitter, for instance, have repeatedly gotten away with hate speech on their platforms without punishment, Peikoff said.
Peikoff added that the new third-party vendor that Parler has hired to better moderate violence-inducing content has “a lot of experience with hate speech,” which it will be helping the platform with as well.
Peikoff also explains that what makes this more difficult is that Apple’s views on hate speech are quite subjective. She says they take the approach of “I’ll know it when I see it,” which they include in their moderation standards.
I think the bottom line is that Apple doesn’t really want to let Parler back into the App Store, knowing that when they do there will be an outcry from the left. So they are going above and beyond to try and protect themselves from cancel culture by making extraordinary demands of Parler, so that when they do let them back into the App Store, they can essentially claim they’ve neutered the platform.
I don’t blame Parler for wanting to have their mobile app back in the App Store. They are a business and they want to succeed. But at the same time, what is this doing to their product? Apple is run by leftists and my concern is, at the end of the day, will Parler still be able to claim they are a free speech platform when they’ve let Apple dictate to them the kinds of hate speech that must be removed. Does that mean I won’t be able to criticize the transgender or homosexual movements on Parler anymore? Will that fall into the category of hate speech that’s removed?
Parler has clearly been up against difficult forces this year and they are still under the gun. It’s totally not fair, but I just hope that it doesn’t compromise their product too much.