Hey there,

Having fun there? Of course, you are, because why not!

I welcome you to another Knowledge•Day issue. Straight from my home in Rajasthan, India.
This is issue #37 and I hope you’ve read issue #36. If you did, you’d probably remember the ending para where I disclosed my plan for this issue. And I don’t intend to deviate from the plan.

For a reminder, this issue will be about Parler being shut with TPB’s experiences for contrast.
P.S. I have no intention of judging anyone here and this does not share any opinion on anything. This newsletter aims to be opinion-free for any topic covered. This is a pure “knowledge” piece. Simplified.

Which parlor again?

Not Parlor, Parler.
According to wikipedia, Parler is an American alt-tech microblogging and social networking service. In a nutshell, it’s a Twitter alternative. Which seems to have attracted far-right user base thanks to its free-speech and unbiased marketing.

Parler App

The app was founded by John Matze Jr. and Jared Thomson, in August 2018. Parler here has no reference from the regular Parlor that you visit for facial-upgrades. Parler is a french word, meaning “to speak”. Hence the focus on “free speech”.

What happened to it in January 2021

This extends to 2020, where Parler experienced significant surge in signups after Twitter flagged some of the president’s tweets as “potentially misleading” and “glorifying violence”. In the heat of the moment, Parler published a “Declaration of Internet Independence”, and began using the “#Twexit” hashtag (a portmanteau of “Twitter” and “Brexit”).
Naturally, the trump supporters moved to Parler. And the things were going good until…

January 2021, when Parler was among the social media services used to plan the storming of the US Capitol.

Twitter then permanently suspended Donald Trump’s account due to his remarks about storming the Capitol. Immediately, Parler experienced a wave of downloads and became the top downloaded app on January 8.

Parler in crosshairs

Noticing the surge in Parler’s downloads, Google pulled the app off the Play store. And soon apple followed.

It doesn’t end there, Twilio cut the service to Parler as well - this killed the 2FA (Two-factor authentication). Scylla Database provider cut their database service and finally, Amazon announced cutting off their entire AWS cloud services to Parler as well.
Imagine shooting a zombie all over the body in panic.

Parler was squeezed further underwater than they were ready for.

Whose mistake was it?
That’s not our concern here. We just discuss what happened next…

Next, They were quick to sue Amazon and demanded to be reinstated on the Amazon Web Services. And…they failed. A Washington judge denied their demand saying Parler provided “dwindling slight” evidence for an antitrust complaint and “failed to allege basic facts” of improper business activity.

TPB Founder’s tweet on this

TL;DR: He thinks Parler’s fight-back actions are “embarrassing”

One of the original co-founders of The Pirate Bay(TPB), Peter S Kolmisoppi knows a little something about keeping controversial services online. TPB is popular as one of the most censored websites in the world, and is still up after almost two decades, After attacks by not just internet companies but multiple governments and Feds.

Sure it’s not the best internet business, but it happens to carry a lot more questionable content than Parler and also has much lower financial support compared to Parler. But you see which one is up and running and which one is not.

Kolmisoppi was quick to laugh at the fact that Parler is backed by hedge-fund billionaire Robert Mercer among others, yet Parler wasn’t prepared and even seems incapable of any adaptation of the situation.

“In all honesty, the reason we did The Pirate Bay was to bring freedom and take back control from a centralized system,” Kolmisoppi said. “The reason that Gab et al will fail is that they’re just whining bitches that have only one ideology: egotism. Sharing is caring y’all.”

How is TPB accredited to comment on this?

Well, as mentioned above, it’s probably the most censored website. But that doesn’t define anything, does it?
Here’s what the founders have to say about the website in Kolmisoppi’s own words:

Finis

Well, that was all for this issue. Again, I’m not saying TPB’s the right business or Parler is. It’s just about the steps taken to save your product, your child, your belief.

Also, just to add here, Parlor’s CEO has been kicked off of the company by the board. Let’s see what follows.