--- Benedict Evans, quoted in a CS Monitor explainer, ‘Free speech social media’? Three questions about Parler, Nov 2020
Excerpt
Q: Can you really post anything?
No. The company says they follow the Federal Communications Commission’s guidelines on violent or obscene speech. In a post on Parler, Mr. Matze outlined the “very few basic rules”: No pornography, no death threats, and, he wrote, no “posting pictures of your fecal matter in the comment section.”
Parler claims to give users the power to moderate their feeds but experts point out that it more or less operates like a regular social media company. Parler makes it clear in the user agreement it retains the right to terminate an account or remove content for any reason. While debunked claims about voter fraud and QAnon theories are flourishing unchecked, and white supremacist and anti-Semitic ideas are not hard to find, some liberal users have reported being banned from the site after criticizing the company’s legal practices.
Benedict Evans, an independent tech analyst, says crackdowns are expected on any growing platform. “Everyone is a fan of free speech until they have some users,” he says.
