The CEO of the social media platform Parler says he believes that the company can outpace Twitter within a year.
“We have seen an amazing surge in downloads and new accounts from what was about 4.5 million only one week ago to over 10 million accounts now,” Parler CEO John Matze told the Washington Examiner’s Elisha Krauss this week. “People don’t trust these big tech oligarchs anymore,” Matze added, referring to the social media giants Twitter and Facebook that have been criticized for years over the censorship of conservatives.
“What really sets us apart is that we are ‘hands off,’” Matze told Krauss. “We respect the First Amendment. We respect what people want to say and what they want to do. And we respect that their data is theirs.”
“A year from now, I think we will have knocked Twitter to be second place, I think,” Matze stated. “It sounds crazy, but it’s going to happen. We have the momentum, and now, they’ve given us an inch, and we’re going to take a full mile.”
Several prominent conservatives have joined Parler, part-owned by radio host Dan Bongino, over the past several months and urged their followers to do the same.
“Hurry and follow me at Parler,” conservative radio host Mark Levin tweeted earlier this month. “I’m trying to encourage as many of you as possible to immediately join me there as I may not stay at Facebook or Twitter if they continue censoring me. And one day I’ll have left their platforms.”
1. Hurry and follow me at Parler. I’m trying to encourage as many of you as possible to immediately join me there as I may not stay at Facebook or Twitter if they continue censoring me. And one day I’ll have left their platforms.
— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) November 8, 2020
“Twitter is flagging my question: Your government sent 1.1 million dead people stimulus checks,” Sen. Rand Paul tweeted this week. “Wonder how many of these folks also voted absentee? So, now it is unacceptable to pose questions? Follow me on @parler_app and prepare for the day twitter silences debate.”
Twitter is flagging my question: Your government sent 1.1 million dead people stimulus checks. Wonder how many of these folks also voted absentee?
So, now it is unacceptable to pose questions?
Follow me on @parler_app and prepare for the day twitter silences debate.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) November 11, 2020
“A lot of people scoffed and said you’re never going to take these tech titans down,” Bongino told the Washington Examiner Friday morning. “Well, we’re doing it.”
Bongino added that a big reason for the success of Parler is the negative public sentiment that has been growing against Twitter.
“I think there’s such rage and anger at Twitter because people by instinct don’t want to have their speech crushed,” Bongino said. “They just don’t like it, and that’s not what we do at Parler. We have been able to define ourselves by what Twitter isn’t.”
When asked about the future of Parler, Bongino said, “Listen, I think there’s a darn good chance this company could be the first step in a tech revolution. I think step two was my involvement with Rumble, which was the video alternative to the Mt. Olympus gods at YouTube.”
Bongino acquired an equity stake in the video-sharing platform Rumble earlier this year, saying at the time that “we need somewhere to go where conservative views won’t be discriminated against.”
“YouTube and Twitter and Google, that owns Youtube, and Fakebook, had this idea that the beatings will continue until morale improves, and I don’t know how long they thought we were going to take this,” he said. “Because I wasn’t. This is just the beginning.”
“You can’t win this,” he told the tech giants. ”People always want free speech. Always. And if you’re going to suppress free speech for conservatives, then you’re going to give me another business opportunity.”
