Parler Receives a Major Cash Infusion

It's not clear in this week's SEC filing where the $20M in new funding for the right-wing app came from
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 7, 2022 1:25 PM CST
Right-Wing Parler App Brings in $20M
In this Jan. 10, 2021, file photo, the website of the social media platform Parler is displayed in Berlin.   (Christophe Gateau/dpa via AP, File)

Last year at this time, social media app Parler was struggling a bit, rendered more or less inaccessible after Google Play, Apple, and Amazon yanked it for violent content tied to the Jan. 6 riot at the US Capitol. Parler eventually made somewhat of a return online, and a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week adds an interesting twist: The company has just received a major financial infusion, with $20 million raised in funding, reports Axios.

It's not clear where exactly the money came from. Amid the names listed on Thursday's filing is founding investor Rebekah Mercer, a Trump supporter and big GOP donor who's noted on the form to be an executive officer, director, and "promoter" for the company. Meanwhile, Seth Dillon, CEO of satirical website The Babylon Bee, is named on the form as a director.

Axios notes the sudden round of funding comes as right-wing circles continue to build up their own dedicated empire of apps and social media platforms to combat what they claim is too much liberal influence and bias online and in the media. These conservative portals include not only Parler, but YouTube alternative Rumble; Gettr, the app launched by former Trump aide Jason Miller; and Donald Trump's new social media platform, Truth Social. The Washington Examiner claims that such platforms have been growing by "leaps and bounds," with tens of millions of users among them, since last year's Jan. 6 riot, spurred on by promises of free speech and data privacy. (More Parler stories.)

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