Parler Is Back Online, Sort Of

The controversial free-speech social networking website Parler has reemerged. The comeback follows its Amazon ban earlier this month for violating its terms of service after members were accused of supporting the Jan. 6 riots against the Capitol.

The site, which is back online as of Tuesday but is not functional for users, has a message from CEO John Matze on its homepage that reads, “Our return is inevitable due to hard work, and persistence against all odds. Despite the threats and harassment not one Parler employee has quit. We are becoming closer and stronger as a team. ”

Another message on the site says, “Now seems like the right time to remind you all — both lovers and haters — why we started this platform. We believe privacy is paramount and free speech essential, especially on social media. Our aim has always been to provide a nonpartisan public square where individuals can enjoy and exercise their rights to both.

“We will resolve any challenge before us and plan to welcome all of you back soon. We will not let civil discourse perish!”

Parler is now being hosted by DDoS-Guard Corp., which was listed under public data associated with the site’s domain name, Bloomberg reported.

The DDoS-Guard Corp. is registered to owners Evgenii Marchenko and Aleksei Likhachev, who live in Russia, with an office location that is listed in Edinburgh, according to documents filed with Companies House obtained by Bloomberg.

Parler also registered its domain name with Epik Inc., which is a website services company located in Sammamish, Washington, public records listed by internet regulator Icann indicated.

However, Parler is still unavailable for download in the Apple App Store or on Google Play, which both removed the app from its stores alongside Amazon’s decision to pull the website on Jan. 10.

Parler filed a lawsuit against Amazon on Jan. 11 claiming that that the e-commerce giant violated antitrust laws to hurt the site and benefit Twitter, USA Today said. It also accused Amazon of breach of contract, which requires a 30-day notice to terminate any account.

Matze said that Parler could be back in late January, telling Fox News on Sunday that he is “confident that by the end of the month, we'll be back up." He added, "We’re making significant progress. When you go into Parler.com it doesn’t go into the void now, it hits a server, and it returns just one piece of information.”

The controversy surrounding the social media site comes as Twitter banned several thousand user accounts after they were tied to the Capitol riots. President Trump has also been permanently banned from Twitter and blocked from Facebook.