Censorship Goes Official: House Democrats are Now Urging FBI to Investigate Parler
The social media app known as Parler took a heavy blow when it had its entire website ripped out from under it due to Amazon pulling it off its servers following the riot at the Capitol. Parler is now getting back on its feet, but now it has a new foe, the United States Government.
According to Fox News, the House Oversight Committee’s top Democrat, Carlyn Maloney, is attempting to sic the FBI on Parler, claiming that it was the platform that made the riot possible. Not only that, but she’s also claiming that it’s a possible breeding ground for foreign countries to incite sedition:
Carolyn Maloney, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, is asking the FBI to conduct a “robust examination” of the role social media site Parler played in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, specifically whether the platform was a “potential facilitator” of planning or inciting the violence.
Maloney, D-N.Y., in a letter to the FBI Thursday, requested that the FBI review whether Parler facilitated planning and questioned whether it is “a potential conduit for foreign governments who may be financing civil unrest in the United States.”
Maloney pointed to a number of individuals who have been arrested and charged threatening violence against elected officials or for their role in participating directly in the Capitol riot, and said the Justice Department alleged that some conspirators posted threatening message on Parler.
“It is clear that Parler houses additional evidence critical to investigations of the attack on the Capitol,” Maloney wrote.
She also mentioned that she wants answers about “Parler’s financing and its ties to Russia.” Maloney said that due to Parler CEO John Matze’s marriage to a woman who has ties to the Russian government, they want Matze and his company investigated thoroughly:
“The company was founded by John Matze shortly after he traveled to Russia with his wife, who is Russian and whose family reportedly has ties to the Russian government,” Maloney wrote, adding that “concerns about the company’s connections to Russia have grown” since the company “re-emerged on a Russian hosting service, DDos-Guard, after being denied services by Amazon Web Services.”
Maloney said DDos-Guard “has ties to the Russian government and hosts the websites of other far-right extremist groups, as well as the terrorist group Hamas.”
“Given these concerns, we ask that the FBI undertake a robust review of the role played by Parler in the January 6 attacks, including (1) as a potential facilitator of planning and incitement related to the attacks, (2) as a repository of key evidence posted by users on its site, and (3) as potential conduit for foreign governments who may be financing civil unrest in the United States,” Maloney wrote.
It’s fascinating that we didn’t get this kind of concern about foreign business ties when it came to the Biden family and their Ukraine dealings. It’s also strange that the left is now suddenly concerned about Hamas.
Let’s be real for a moment about what this is, though. If the Democrats didn’t care about foreign ties and dirty business dealings with the Biden family, they likely don’t care about Matze’s connections to Russia’s government, which are pretty thin.
What this is really is, is a message. Parler was gaining too much steam and too much popularity and with Trump needing a platform after being kicked off Twitter, Parler was his natural choice. This would have sent Parler’s userbase into the stratosphere, resulting in a very real threat to Twitter’s monopoly on short-form conversation social media. It’s likely that when Parler reopens its doors that its userbase will come flooding back and then some, resulting in the threat reemerging, especially as silicon valley continues to tighten the screws on conservatives.
Sending the FBI against Parler and Matze is telling everyone that free speech online won’t be tolerated, nor will any threats to the ongoing power balance. This is an attempt at intimidation and a measure to protect the left’s supremacy online as the gatekeepers of information and communication.
