Parler CEO and co-founder, John Matze, has been fired by the company's board. According to reports, Matze's future vision of Parler didn't align with the board's, which it's claimed was the driving factor in his termination.

Matze Ousted Over Differing Views

Matze co-founded Parler in 2018, and the "free speech" social platform rapidly started gaining traction in 2020. Political conservatives flocked to the site to escape from Facebook and Twitter, both of which employ strict moderation policies.

While things were starting to look up for Parler's growth, this streak was quickly cut short. Right after the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021, Parler was blacklisted from the internet.

The Google Play Store and Apple App Store dropped Parler, and Amazon Web Services subsequently booted Parler from its hosting service for poor moderation policies. Although Parler sued Amazon for dropping the site, the judge dismissed Parler's case.

A report by The Wall Street Journal revealed that Matze was fired over his approach to moderation. Matze cited that he's been struggling to come to agreements with the members of his team, saying:

Over the past few months, I’ve met constant resistance to my product vision, my strong belief in free speech and my view of how the Parler site should be managed. For example, I advocated for more product stability and what I believe is a more effective approach to content moderation.

The former CEO continued on, noting that he has "worked endless hours and fought constant battles to get the Parler site running."

Dan Bongino, a politically conservative talk show host who's also an investor in Parler, disagreed with Matze's claims on an episode of The Dan Bongino Show.

Bongino contradicted Matze's statement, claiming that "this is an outrageous attack against people who have done nothing but work day and night to get this site back up and to fight back against these cancel culture goons." Bongino also implied that he, and the other owners of Parler, boasted a free speech vision, something that Matze apparently didn't possess.

What Will Become of Parler?

Despite facing bans from AWS and mobile app stores, Parler has since partnered with a new web host, Epik, and displays a static webpage. It currently shows messages from John Matze, Dan Bongino, as well as from a number of other Parler supporters.

With Matze booted from the CEO position, what path will the site take? If Bongino's claims are valid, the site will stay moderation-free (or at least try to). In previous interviews, Matze implied that the site would be fully functional in the near future. But with Matze out of the driver's seat, it's unclear when Parler will make a full comeback.