Former CEO Sues Parler Over Alleged ‘Conspiracy’ To Oust Him

Topline

Former CEO John Matze sued Parler Tuesday alleging he was pushed out for wanting extra stringent content material moderation, including to the controversy plaguing the besieged social community following the January 6 Capitol riot.

On this photograph illustration the Parler emblem seen displayed on a smartphone.

SOPA Photographs/LightRocket through Getty Photographs

Key Details

Matze alleges Parler’s management workforce, together with conservative mega-donor Rebekah Mercer, orchestrated the “outlandish and smug theft” of his 40% stake within the firm.

Matze claims he was pressured out by Mercer as a result of he wished to ban QAnon and neo-Nazi teams within the wake of the Capitol assault, whereas Mercer, who was bankrolling the social community and owned 60% of it, was immune to the thought and wished to make use of Parler to advance her personal “model” of conservativism, the lawsuit says.

Mercer is a named defendant within the swimsuit, together with Parler itself, COO Jeffrey Wernick, interim CEO Mark Meckler and conservative media character Dan Bongino, who says he owns a stake within the firm, although the lawsuit notes it is in the end unclear if he was ever given any shares. (Neither Parler nor anybody named within the swimsuit has responded to the criticism.)

The lawsuit alleges Parler and its management workforce breached its contract and defamed Matze by asserting he was “responsible of misconduct” after he was fired in early February.

Essential Quote

“Mercer’s and the opposite Defendants’ private wishes to drive the corporate within the route of their very own private political branding and enrichment had been in battle with, and detrimental to, the corporate’s pursuits,” the lawsuit says.

Key Background

Parler was based in 2018 as a “free speech” refuge for conservatives who felt mainstream social networks like Fb and Twitter had been silencing their views. However the app rapidly got here below scrutiny after the Capitol riot for the unfold of misinformation in regards to the election, white supermacist hate speech and alleged violent rhetoric. Apple and Google booted it from their app shops, and Amazon banned the corporate from utilizing its cloud computing platform Amazon Net Companies. Parler finally discovered one other cloud supplier, Los Angeles-based SkySilk, and is again with a bare-bones web site, however its cellular app remains to be offline.