As social media censorship increases, Parler is having a moment

Social app Parler has hit number one in the News Section of the App Store. The increase in social media censorship is partly responsible for the increase in downloads of the app, a social media platform that promises to uphold free speech.

In French, Parler means "to speak." It is a social networking service, and microblogging platform (like Twitter) launched in 2018 by John Matze. Matze could not contain his excitement on his app's achievement. He posted a screenshot of the charts and declared it a victory over "tech tyrants," obviously referring to Twitter and Facebook.

"This is a symbol that we want a Town Square for free discussion. We the people do not want to be told what to think, we do not want to be manipulated, and we want our data to be private. We reject technofascism and those who think they are the sole arbiters of truth. We reject their biased editorial panels, we reject their "fact-checkers," and we reject censorship," Matze wrote.

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