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Social media app alternative to Twitter soars to #1 on Apple download charts after election censorship
Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Social media app alternative to Twitter soars to #1 on Apple download charts after election censorship

The CEO of Parler criticized Twitter censorship of conservatives

A social media application touted as the free speech alternative to Twitter shot up to the top of Apple's downloading charts after numerous incidents of censorship over the election.

Parler officially launched in 2018 and has gained millions of followers since, some of which were banned from Twitter or abandoned the platform over their attempts to censor speech.

KUSI-TV said that the alternative platform was the No. 1 downloaded application on Apple the weekend after the election.

Parler, which is based in Henderson, Nevada, made similar headlines in June when prominent conservatives pushed a campaign to abandon Twitter in favor of the alternative platform.

Many supporters and allies of President Donald Trump excoriated Twitter after the election when the president claimed that he had won the election with large margins, and Twitter slapped his tweets with a warning that his claims were misleading.

The president had said in May that he would consider steps to shut down Twitter over its censorship.

"I think this, if Twitter were not honorable, if you're gonna have a guy like this be your judge and jury, I think you shut it down as far as I'm concerned," Trump said at the time, "but I'd have to go through a legal process to do that.

Parler CEO John Matze told KUSI that before the election his platform had risen to more than 4.5 million users. He added that during the election his platform was growing by as much as 50 new users a second.

"It was really kinda going a little crazy," he said.

While some praised Parler for its closer adherence to a free speech policy, some worried that it might help spread false news.

"I think times have changed now considering how fast information gets spread on the internet. I think censorship is important to keep people safe," said licensed counselor Angela Pham to WLS-TV.

"The conspiracy theories that are happening right now seem to be more dangerous than ever before," she added.

Here's more about the Twitter censorship:

Parler CEO John Matze slams Twitter's censorship of President Trumpwww.youtube.com

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