Parler's CEO John Matze Fired

His company's board of directors reportedly fired Parler CEO and co-founder John Matze. This comes just days after his social media platform, Parler was primarily wiped off the internet following the Capitol Hill riots. His termination was confirmed after he sent a memo to Fox News, Reuters and The Wall Street Journal. Matze's LinkedIn page also shows a job end date of January 2021.

In his memo to Fox News, Matze wrote, "On January 29, 2021, the Parler board controlled by Rebekah Mercer decided to immediately terminate my position as CEO of Parler. I did not participate in this decision. I understand that those who now control the company have made some communications to employees and other third parties that have unfortunately created confusion and prompted me to make this public statement."

Also, he wrote that in recent months he has encountered "constant resistance" to his original vision of the social media platform following Amazon Web Services' decision to shut down Parler for failing to moderate "egregious content" related to the riot of Capitol.

Matze further added"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."

He continued, "I have worked endless hours and fought constant battles to get the Parler site running, but at this point, the future of Parler is no longer in my hands. I want to thank the Parler employees, the people on Parler and Parler supporters for their tireless work and devotion to the company. They are an amazing group of diverse, hardworking and talented individuals, and I have the utmost respect for them. Many of them have become my second family."

Parler is one of the social media platforms widely welcomed by former US President Donald Trump supporters because it favoured freedom of expression and experienced an increase in users after President Trump's permanent suspension on Twitter. The platform also allowed posts that include conspiracy theories, threats, and hate speech, among other things.