Parler is sharing information with the FBI to help with the Department of Justice’s investigations into the riot at the US Capitol.
An affidavit was filed in court Tuesday by an FBI special agent who says that Eduardo Florea stockpiled more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition and threatened to kill Georgia’s Sen.-elect Raphael Warnock.
The affidavit also says that Parler obtained records from the FBI to identify the person behind the “LoneWolfWar,” account, where the threats originated. Parler provided the account-related phone number and data from T-Mobile, which the FBI used to identify Florea.
Florea, a professed supporter of the Proud Boys, a pro-Trump neo-fascist group with chapters across the US, was denied bond and remains in jail awaiting trial.
Ultimately, Florea did not travel to Washington, D.C. for the January 6 protest turned insurgency at the Capitol. The affidavit states that on that day, Florea posted that New York, where he lives, was “target-rich.”
It is not clear whether Parler provided the account information to the FBI after DOJ issued a warrant or subpoena for it or if the company gave the information over on its own.
Cooperating with law-enforcement is typical for major tech platforms. The location and text history of suspects from cell phone carriers such as T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T, as well as direct messages from platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, are routinely obtained by local and federal prosecutors.
Parler also recently cooperated with a separate FBI investigation, as reported by Insider’s Madison Hall, in a case against Michael Reyes, who is accused of threatening to kill Donald Trump and Justice Amy Coney Barrett of the Supreme Court.
Court records show that after the FBI submitted a request to Parler for subscriber information, Parler provided the email address, phone number, sign-up IP address, and date of creating an account where the threats were made and associated with Reyes.
However, the awareness that Parler is cooperating with law enforcement in cases linked to the Capitol uprising could create problems for the social media platform.
Parler has a large user base of extremists from the far right. Many of those individuals used the platform to organize violence at the Capitol, the Department of Justice says.
It has also become a haven for individuals barred from other social media outlets, such as Lin Wood, who spread conspiracy theories about the US election in 2020 and used Twitter to call for the execution of Vice President Mike Pence and Chief Justice John Roberts of the Supreme Court, as well as right-wing media personalities, such as Mark Levin, host of Fox News, who think they can’t freely express themselves on other platforms.
The platform has been down since Monday, when Amazon, which hosted its servers, cut it off, saying it “cannot provide services to a customer this is unable to effectively identify and remove content that encourages or incites violence against others.” Apple and Google booted Parler’s app from their smartphone app stores before that decision.
Parler and Amazon are involved in a service cancelation lawsuit, in which Amazon has detailed in court filings some of the violent and threatening messages on the platform. John Matze, CEO of Parler, has looked for another host for the service but has also said the platform could permanently shut down.
On Tuesday, the Department of Justice said it opened more than 160 investigations into individuals at the Capitol on January 6, with more expected.
Many of the court filings available to the public concerning those cases so far reveal investigations based on publicly available social media activities rather than directly obtained information from social media companies.
Pro-Trump mob members live-streamed their activities or allowed themselves to be photographed while the Capitol was being stormed. The documents also show that federal agents reviewed physically searched phones and screenshots of messages sent to acquaintances.
Most of the court filings information was provided to establish just cause for officials to arrest the individuals suspected of participating in the insurrection. When filing an indictment and when bringing evidence for a trial, prosecutors normally provide more information.
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