Parler, MeWe downloads have spiked since the election. Here’s what we know about them
Downloads of two lesser-known social media apps billing themselves as the antithesis of Facebook and Twitter have spiked in the days since Joe Biden was declared the winner of a contentious presidential election involving unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.
The apps, Parler and MeWe, have attracted hundreds of thousands of new users — particularly among conservatives. They overtook traditional heavy hitters TikTok and Zoom to become the No. 1 and No. 2 most downloaded apps on Monday, according to the iPhone App Store.
“Thank you to all our awesome members!” MeWe said in a tweet on Monday. “We are taking on Facebook with social media done right. No Ads, No Targeting, No Newsfeed Manipulation, No BS!”
How are Parler, MeWe marketed?
The tag line below Parler’s name on the App Store is “unbiased social media.”
When users click on the logo, the description box touts Parler as “non-biased, free speech social media focused on protecting user’s rights.” Its website similarly describes the app as providing “real conversation” free from bots and “a higher ethical standard” than some of its mainstream competitors.
“Parler believes that people are entitled to security, privacy, and freedom of expression,” the website states. “All personal data is kept confidential, and never sold to third parties. Our concise Community Guidelines are based on fair and just legal precedent, and are enforced by a Community Jury.”
Parler was launched in 2018, and its 27-year-old founder and CEO John Matze told Forbes in July that liberals make up a “very minute share of the (user) population.”
MeWe officially launched in 2016, founder and CEO Mark Weinstein said in an article for Medium. He describes the app as a “movement” designed “to give the social media industry a new and positive disruption.”
It’s billed online as the anti-Facebook — no facial recognition, no ads and “no newsfeed or content manipulation common on other social media platforms,” MeWe’s description in the app store states.
Who’s using these social media sites?
Conservative politicians have amassed a significant following on Parler and MeWe — starting with former U.S. congressional candidate and far-right activist Laura Loomer.
Loomer ran on the Republican ticket to represent Florida’s 21st congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives but was defeated by incumbent Democrat Rep. Lois Frankel. Loomer was previously banned on Twitter and Facebook for posting content the social media giants said violated their policies against hateful conduct and “dangerous individuals,” CNET reported.
She’s garnered more than 574,000 followers on Parler since joining in 2018, according to the media outlet.
Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York and a lawyer for President Donald Trump, is also on Parler. He’s joined by Republican Senators Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, as well as Rep. Devin Nunes and right-wing pundit Stefan Molyneux, USA Today reported.
Republican Representatives Jim Jordan and Elise Stefanik as well as former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley are also on the app, according to CNBC.
The Trump Campaign and the president’s son, Eric Trump, use Parler, Forbes reported.
Why there’s a renewed interest
Google Trends shows searches for “Parler” spiked between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. Monday. The research firm Apptopia told Fox Business Parler’s downloads doubled the week of the election — going from 150,000 during the week of Oct. 26 to 310,000 the week of Nov. 2.
Analytics firm SensorTower said the app generated about 200,000 downloads last month, Newsweek reported, and in a post Sunday, Matze wrote Parler had attracted two million new accounts.
“We expected a million or so people today... but 2? You guys are crazy,” he wrote, according to Newsweek.
The flood of new users has been driven in part by Facebook and Twitter’s renewed crackdown on the spread of misinformation in the lead-up to the 2020 election.
Amid unfounded accusations of voter fraud as officials in key battleground states tallied votes on Nov. 6, Business Insider reported almost a dozen “Stop the Steal” groups had materialized on MeWe. “Stop the Steal” has been the rallying cry for those who claim Democrats rigged the election for Biden — a sentiment that’s been echoed by Trump without factual support.
The day before, Facebook shut down a group of 365,000 people protesting vote counting online “for breaking its policies around inciting violence,” according to the media outlet.
What critics say
Matze told Forbes that Parler wouldn’t have fact checkers or forms of censorship.
“A police officer isn’t going to arrest you if you say the wrong opinion,” he said. “I think that’s all people want. That’s what they like.”
He’s also said the app wasn’t meant to attract a pro-Trump audience and that he doesn’t particularly like the Democratic or Republican parties, CNBC reported. In June, Matze told the media outlet the company would give a liberal pundit with at least 50,000 followers on Twitter or Facebook $20,000 to join Parler.
“We initially attracted conservative users because they felt disenfranchised by other social media platforms,” Matze said in an email sent through a spokesperson to The Washington Post.
The Parler users agreement, however, does state that it can “remove any content and terminate your access to the Services at any time and for any reason,” KSAT reported.
Some more liberal users have also said they’ve been booted from the app.
“Pretty much all of my leftist friends joined Parler to screw with MAGA folks, and every last one of them was banned in less than 24 hours because conservatives truly love free speech,” a Twitter user going by the name “Respectable Lawyer” tweeted on June 26.
Matze said Parler’s guidelines don’t restrict free speech, telling The Washington Post the purpose is “to create a proper town square without people ruining it by violating it with speech not protected by the First Amendment or FCC guidelines.”
But Daniel Kreiss, a media professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said moderation is difficult to ignore on social media.
“That’s the irony — content moderation is always necessary,” he told the Post. “Just depends where you draw the line.”
This story was originally published November 9, 2020 at 6:48 PM with the headline "Parler, MeWe downloads have spiked since the election. Here’s what we know about them."
