The app was banned following the January 6 riots at the US Capitol
Controversial social media app Parler was booted off by Google and Apple from their mobile app hubs in 2021, shortly after the January 6 riots at the US Capitol that left five dead and several injured. Shortly after the app’s removal from the Play Store and App Store, Amazon Web Services (AWS) also pulled the plug on the service’s web hosting. But it seems like things are changing for the developers of the app with Parler officially making its comeback on the Google Play Store.
The reinstatement comes following measures taken by Parler to improve content moderation on its platform, Axios reports. Notably, after it banned the iOS/iPadOS versions of the app in January, Apple reinstated Parler on the App Store a few months later.
Nevertheless, this is the first time that the app is returning to the Play Store since its ban in January last year. Android users could have still accessed Parler by downloading the app from its website. There were also thousands of users who mistook the similar-sounding Parlor app for this app.
The updated Play Store listing for Parler says it is a new version of the app for Android “with all the same features available on iOs (sic).” In addition to the promise of improving content moderation, Parler is also letting users block and report other accounts.
This is no doubt a victory for the app, widely seen as a social hub for the political right: it has seen its popularity diminish over the past 18 months largely due to its role in fueling the Jan 6 riots at the Capitol as well as its subsequent limited availability.
A Google spokesperson told Axios that apps are allowed to return to the Play Store as long as they are in adherence to the Google Play developer policies, adding that “robust moderation practices” are mandatory for apps that include user-generated content.
Truth Social, a social network from former President Donald Trump, arrived on the scene after Trump’s suspension from Twitter in the wake of January 6th. The service is currently limited to iOS and web users, while an Android app is reportedly on the way. A source cited by Axios told the publication that the Truth Social team is devising a way to get into the Play Store by updating its moderation guidelines.
