Politics Newt Gingrich Defends Parler After Concerns Are Raised Over the Platform's No-Banning Policy

© ZAKARIA ABDELKAFI/AFP via Getty Images Newt Gingrich, former US Speaker of the House attends "Free Iran 2018 - the Alternative" event organized by exiled Iranian opposition group on June 30, 2018 in Villepinte, north of Paris.

Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House and ally of President Donald Trump defended Parler on Twitter today. The social media platform that describes itself as a place where people can "speak freely and express yourself openly, without fear of being "deplatformed" for your views, has faced criticism postelection of becoming a safe haven for those still dreaming of Trump 2020.

Social app Parler reportedly receives funding from the conservative Mercer family

Downloads of Parler in app stores skyrocketed in the days after the US presidential election , rocketing it to the top of the iOS and Google Play app stores. © Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images Parler turned into a kind of de facto home for conservatives’ protests against the election— including the persistent “Stop the Steal” campaign— after the race was called for former Vice President Joe Biden. Several high-profile conservative social media personalities encouraged people to abandon Twitter and Facebook because of their moderation policies, and instead follow them on Parler.

That was no small political feat and is widely credited to Gingriches political acumen for strategy and his Today, the boy, Newt Gingrich , is on the verge of becoming the Speaker of the House and next in Newt was bending over backwards to try to get his approval. I think that is related somehow to

I am not defending Newt Gingrich for his past votes or how he has treated Ron Paul in the past. All I am saying is that what he stated in this interview, I

"The news media used to defend freedom of speech as essential to maintaining our republic. Now, the idea that conservatives can speak freely on Parler is a 'threat to democracy.'" Gingrich also attached an article from Politico, titled "On Parler, MAGA's postelection world view blossoms with no pushback."

The news media used to defend freedom of speech as essential to maintaining our republic. Now, the idea that conservatives can speak freely on Parler is a “threat to democracy.”https://t.co/th9MbYR558

— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) November 23, 2020

The Politico article details how Parler users are using the platform to spread claims that president elect Joe Biden stole the election from Trump. The site also noted that the post-election victory for the platform "was that higher-profile conservatives and lawmakers started engaging frequently with the site."

Trump's loyalists are flocking to "alternative" platforms

© Olivier DOULIERY The conservative American right has been migrating en masse for several days to so-called "alternative" sites, such as Parler Convinced that Donald Trump has had his presidential and ulcerated by the moderation of the messages of the Republican billionaire on Twitter or Facebook, the American conservative right has been migrating en masse for several days to so-called "alternative" sites.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA.) on President Trump' s decision to delay funding for a border wall in an effort to avoid a government

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on Sunday said that he had an uphill battle to win "Governor Romney has the ability to raise an amazing amount of money out of Wall Street, from "And he has a basic policy of carpet bombing his opponent. He doesn't build up Mitt Romney, he just

Parler had over four million new downloads since Election Day in early November. It has been a popular social media platform for conservatives since 2018. In the wake of the divisive 2020 election, many Trump supporters flocked there in order to prevent their social media updates from being labeled as misleading. Facebook and Twitter have recently tagged many of Trump's posts as containing disputed information leading up to and after Election Day.

Many popular conservative pundits have also encouraged their Twitter followers to join Parler, along with celebrities including Kirstie Alley.

Twitter's moderation has moved many MAGA supporters and QAnon conspiracy theorists to post with wild abandon elsewhere. Whether or not Parler will ever serve as a real threat to Twitter, however, remains to be seen.

Parler's website states that their content "is moderated based off the FCC and the Supreme Court of the United States which enables free expression without violence and a lack of censorship. Parler never shares your personal data." Additionally, "the goal is to offer the world a platform that protects user's rights, supports publishers and builds communities."

Despite Parler lauding itself as a free speech and non-banning platform, its User Agreement states that the site can remove any content and terminate a user's access "at any time and for any reason or no reason," adding, "although Parler endeavors to allow all free speech that is lawful and does not infringe the legal rights of others."

Related Articles

• GOP Senator Portman Says There's 'No Evidence' That Election Fraud Would Change Results 'in Any State'

Start your unlimited Newsweek trial