Parler receiving Russian firm’s services as it gears up to relaunch

Parler is receiving services from a Russian-based technology firm as the social media platform gears up to relaunch after being pulled from Amazon Web Services, the Russian company confirmed Tuesday. 

Parler reappeared online Sunday with a message from CEO John Matze telling users its return “is inevitable,” about a week after Amazon pulled it over concerns the platform could not adequately moderate potentially incendiary content. 

Russian-based firm DDoS-Guard said in a statement to The Hill it started servicing Parler on Sunday night. 

The firm said Parler is not using DDoS-Guard as a hosting site, but did not detail what services it is providing the platform. 

“The security provider is not at liberty to disclose the services provided to the customers as it contradicts our privacy policy. However, due to the increased media attention, we have to state that the customer does not use the hosting service,” DDoS-Guard said in a statement. 

Reuters first reported Monday that the Russian company was providing services to Parler. The company provides a multitude of services, including protection from distributed denial of service attacks, infrastructure expert Ronald Guilmette told the newswire. 

DDoS-Guard is headquartered in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, and has a representative office in Edinburgh, Scotland, according to the company statement. 

DDoS-Guard said that “at this time” Parler does not violate its policies and it has “no plans to hinder customer service experience until customers violate the law of countries of their legal residence.” 

Parler’s domain is now registered with Epik, according to publicly available WHOIS information. However, a spokesperson for Epik told CNN the company does not provide Parler’s web hosting. 

Parler sued Amazon after it pulled the platform, alleging the company violated antitrust law and breached the companies’ contractual arrangement. In response, Amazon urged a judge to keep the platform offline citing a series of death threats posted on the site ahead of the deadly riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6. 

Attorneys for Amazon said Parler demonstrated an “unwillingness and inability” to remove content that threatened public safety and incited violence. 

A spokesperson for Parler did not respond to a request for comment regarding which company it is using to host its website or if it plans to push forward with the legal challenge against Amazon. 

Before Amazon pulled Parler, Google and Apple pulled the social media platform’s app from its stores citing similar concerns over a lack of content moderation, meaning that even if the website relaunches as Matze has pledged to do, it would likely not have the same reach as it did when available as an app.