Apple CEO Tim Cook defended his company’s decision to remove the social media app Parler from its store, claiming that there were concerns over potential threats of violence by its users.
In a clip of an interview with Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace that was released on Friday, Cook said the company found threats to safety on Parler, and that exempted the relatively new social media platform from First Amendment protections.
“We looked at the incitement to violence that was on there, and we, we don’t consider that free speech and incitement to violence has an, has an intersection,” Cook said.
The executive added that Apple has only suspended Parler, and if they “get their moderation together, they would be back on there.”
Apple announced it removed Parler from its App Store last week, shortly after the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6 that left five people dead in Washington, D.C.
Before the removal, Apple gave Parler a 24-hour notice seeking a “moderation improvement plan,” saying the company received complaints about the content on the app and cited accusations that users planned to coordinate and pursue illegal activities in the Washington area prior to the riot.
Google took similar action, suspending the app from its Google Play store last week over similar concerns.
Parler was launched in 2018 by GOP megadonor Rebekah Mercer, developer John Matze, and programmer Jared Thomson. It was the most downloaded app between Nov. 9 and Nov. 15, 2020, according to SensorTower, a marketing intelligence company that tracks app downloads. In December 2020, Parler had over 300,000 downloads.
The app has largely been favored by conservative talk show hosts and Republican lawmakers who touted the app for its free speech policies after Twitter upped its fact-checking and content monitoring ahead of the 2020 election.
Earlier this month, Twitter also removed over 70,000 accounts linked to the conspiracy group QAnon, as well as the @realDonaldTrump account, which belonged to President Trump. Other social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram also suspended Trump, citing that his posts had the potential to incite more violence after the riot.
Trump’s final day in office will be on Wednesday. The president has said that he will not be attending the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, and Trump is expected to depart the district before the events begin.
