Parler’s board of directors, headed by Rebekah Mercer, fired CEO John Matze from the company last week.
“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,” Matze wrote in a memo to employees. “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.”
“After that, I’ll be looking for new opportunities where my technical acumen, vision and the causes I am passionate about will be required and respected,” he added.
The termination comes weeks after Amazon Web Services locked Parler from its servers effectively shutting down the free speech alternative to Twitter.
Matze had promised to resurrect Parler by the end of January, but had not been able to do so.
It is unclear what direction Mercer will take the platform she funded and co-founded. Bending to the censorship required by Amazon, Apple and Google would likely turn off conservatives and push them towards open alternatives like Gab and Telegram.
Parler’s domain, parler.com, still prominently displays recent posts by Matze and no public statement has been offered by the company.
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