Last Updated on February 16, 2021
The CEO of SkySilk, Parler’s new hosting provider, suggested they would take a hands-off approach in hosting them, despite their Terms and Conditions banning “hateful content.”
Parler returned to the web for many users on Monday, after being offline for a month following their removal from the internet by Big Tech companies determined to deplatform them. The conservative-oriented social network had previously been hosted by Amazon Web Services, before being swiftly removed for allegedly platforming violent material. Parler’s web servers are now with SkySilk, purportedly a reseller of OVHcloud.
However, concerns were raised by some about the commitment to free speech from SkySilk. Andrew Torba, the CEO of Gab, pointed out that Parler’s new hosting service prohibits “hateful” content from being hosted by themselves, with the company “reserving the right to refuse to provide service” to customers to host “racist, pornographic, hateful material or those which create customer service or abuse issues for us.”
“Not your servers, not your TOS, not free speech,” Torba concluded, who notably ensured that Gab runs off its own server farm, giving them full control over their hosting.
READ MORE: Parler Switches Domain Registry to Epik Following AWS Ban
In a statement, Kevin Matossian, the CEO of SkySilk, attempted to alleviate concerns, by saying that SkySilk “truly believes and supports the freedom of speech” and the First Amendment, and that they believe Parler is “taking the necessary steps to better monitor its platform,” applauding their new Community Guidelines:
SkySilk is well aware that Parler has received an aggressive response from those who believe their platform has been used as a safe haven for some bad actors. Let me be clear, Skysilk does not advocate nor condone hate, rather, it advocates the right to private judgment and rejects the role of being the judge, jury, and executioner. Unfortunately, too many of our fellow technology providers seem to differ in their position on this subject…
While we may disagree with some of the sentiment found on the Parler platform, we cannot allow first amendment rights to be hampered or restricted by anyone or any organization… Once again, this is not a matter of SkySilk endorsing the message, but rather, the right of the messenger to deliver it. SkySilk will support Parler in their efforts to be a nonpartisan Public Square as we are convinced this is the only appropriate course of action.
— SkySilk Cloud (@SkySilkCloud) February 15, 2021
As National File reported, Parler’s new Community Guidelines note that the site will be run in the spirit of the First Amendment, and moderate content from a viewpoint-neutral standpoint. Parler will continue to remove illegal content, such as child pornography, and will provide a “double-filter” system for not-safe-for-work and “trolling” content. Interim CEO Mark Meckler said the site will be moderated by both AI and human editors.
At the time of writing, some users are still unable to access Parler, despite Meckler claiming that all previous users should have been able to get back into their accounts by noon on Monday.
