Apple will allow an updated version of Parler, an app popular with conservatives including some members of the far-right, onto its App Store.
“Apple made an independent decision to remove Parler for non-compliance with [its] Guidelines and it did not coordinate or otherwise consult with Google or Amazon with respect to that decision. Apple stands by that decision,” Timothy Powderly, Apple’s Senior Director for Government Affairs, wrote in a letter addressed to Representative Ken Buck and Senator Mike Lee.
Apple said it would allow Parler back onto the App Store under the conditions that the social media platform moderates and deletes violent content.
“You can’t be inciting violence or allow people to incite violence. You can’t allow hate speech and so forth. And they had moved from moderating to not being able to moderate. But we gave them a chance to cure that. And they were unable to do that or didn’t do that. And so we had to pull them off. Now, having said that… I hope that they come back on. Because we work hard to get people on the store, not to keep people off the store. And so, I’m hoping that they put in the moderation that’s required to be on the store and come back, because I think having more social networks out there is better than having less,” Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, said on Kara Swisher’s podcast ‘Sway.’
