Far-right social media site Parler’s parent company Parlement Technologies has laid off most of its staff, leaving a skeleton crew of just 20 employees across both entities.
Things have been increasingly shaky for the conservative social media beacon for months now, and their future is looking bleak.
The layoffs started back in November and rolled through December, when they let go of 75 per cent of their staff, affecting C-suite execs in charge of tech, operations, marketing and more.
Meanwhile, Parler itself seems to be existing in a state of denial. They recently put up an #OnThisDay post, spruiking a self-declared return to glory after they were mostly kicked off the internet for their part in mobilising the mob that rioted at the US Capital in the 2021 insurrection on January 6.
“OnThisDay two years ago, Parler was de-platformed by Amazon Web Services. After being #1 in the IOS store the day before, Google and Apple followed and removed the Parler app from their app stores, “ the company wrote from @Parler.
“Two years later, on our cloud servers and back on the Apple and Google Play stores, #Parler has been rebuilt and better than ever.”
This is contrasted by the fact CEO of Parler and Parelment George Farmer hasn’t posted on his platform in nearly a month.
Parler enjoyed a brief return to the spotlight last year when Kanye West – now going by the name of ye – made noise about buying the platform, after being restricted from Twitter and Instagram for making antisemitic comments, though he backed out of the purchase after a few weeks.
“In response to numerous media inquries, Parlement Technologies would like to confirm that the company has mutually agreed with Ye to terminate the intent of sale of Parler,” the company said in December, at around the time of the layoffs.
It would appear the company had a hard time finding opportunities for growth after the deal fell apart, and with just 20 staff on deck it would seem this won’t turn around soon.
