{"id":119148,"date":"2021-02-05T16:38:45","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T21:38:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=119148"},"modified":"2021-02-05T16:57:57","modified_gmt":"2021-02-05T21:57:57","slug":"exclusive-dan-bongino-on-the-future-of-parler-and-governments-role-in-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-dan-bongino-on-the-future-of-parler-and-governments-role-in-tech\/","title":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: Dan Bongino on the Future of Parler and Government\u2019s Role in Tech"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fexclusive-dan-bongino-on-the-future-of-parler-and-governments-role-in-tech%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=119148&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1230533306-1200x800-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"p1\">In the weeks that followed November\u2019s general election, Parler, the social media platform founded in 2018 by engineers John Matze and Jared Thomson, was steadily gaining momentum as it rose to the top of Apple\u2019s App Store.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">In a social media landscape saturated with left-leaning ideologues, Parler billed itself as a free speech microblogging platform, free of any political bias or censorship. This laissez-faire approach to social networking resonated with many, especially amid the increase of seemingly biased \u201cfact checks\u201d on political content. Within days of Twitter\u2019s glaring foray into fact-checking, Parler reached over 850,000 daily downloads. Overtaking such giants as TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook, Parler climbed to the top spot of the App Store downloads chart.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">It didn\u2019t take long for the Silicon Valley titans to strike back. Framing the January 6 Capitol Hill riots as partially the fault of open and uncensored platforms like Parler \u2014 specifically due to their lack of active content filtering \u2014 both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeednews.com\/article\/johnpaczkowski\/amazon-parler-aws?bftwnews&amp;utm_term=4ldqpgc#4ldqpgc\"><span class=\"s2\">Apple and Google<\/span><\/a> banned Parler from being offered or downloaded on their respective app stores. The final nail in the coffin came when Amazon evicted Parler from its Web Services (AWS) platform on January 11, effectively shutting down the entire website.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Parler has been down since Amazon Web Services (AWS) expelled the platform from its cloud servers. Parler\u2019s website is now a static page bearing a message from the firm\u2019s founder and former CEO, John Matze: \u201c<em>Now seems like the right time to remind you all \u2014 both lovers and haters \u2014 why we started this platform. We believe privacy is paramount and free speech essential, especially on social media. Our aim has always been to provide a nonpartisan public square where individuals can enjoy and exercise their rights to both. We will resolve any challenge before us and plan to welcome all of you back soon. We will not let civil discourse perish!\u201d<\/em> Despite being abruptly evicted from Amazon\u2019s AWS cloud services, Matze assured users that their data had been recovered from Amazon and would ensure a smooth relaunch and rebuild. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Echoing a similar sentiment, Don Bongino explained to me that Parler\u2019s engineers and design team had been working around the clock to rebuild and strengthen the app\u2019s technology infrastructure, making it far more resilient to the whims of Silicon Valley\u2019s gatekeepers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Meanwhile, Parler is currently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/technology\/parler-sues-amazon-antitrust-contract-breach\"><span class=\"s2\">claiming<\/span><\/a> an antitrust violation and breach of contract, suing Amazon for severing its ties with the platform, citing political animus as the tech giant\u2019s impetus.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Since my last interview with Bongino, much has changed in the social media landscape. President Donald Trump, along with hundreds of thousands of other accounts, have been suspended and purged from Twitter. Parler, the free-speech alternative platform, has itself been evicted from Amazon\u2019s cloud servers and the myriad of services it relied on it run.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">I asked Bongino, as Parler\u2019s strategic advisor, to elucidate on his vision for the future of Parler and similarly aligned free-speech platforms more broadly. \u201cAll of our warnings about where we were going is where we are now. Growing authoritarianism, the slippery slope. Everything we said is now happening. The world\u2019s upside down. Imbeciles on the left continue to insist that the misinformation is coming for the conservatives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Offering a bleak outlook on the trajectory of the tech industry, Bongino added, \u201cwhen it comes to this authoritarianism and totalitarianism, I don\u2019t see it getting better. The Parler example was absolutely grotesque from someone who\u2019s seen it. However awful you think it was from the exterior \u2014 a coordinated attack from the biggest tech companies \u2014 it was worse on the inside. We warned everyone about this.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Bongino mentioned Matt Taibbi and Glenn Greenwald amongst a sparsely populated cadre of leftists who abide by liberal, democratic values. But regarding the majority, Bongino said, \u201cthey don\u2019t see authoritarianism and the weaponization of government and the use of the free market \u2014 the alleged free market \u2014 against their competitors as a problem at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Specifically, on the future of Parler and its awaited return to the web, Bongino was optimistic. \u201cMaybe I\u2019m a pessimist in the short run, but not in the log run. This quest by the left to be tyrants is like holding a beachball underwater. People\u2019s desire to be free of censorship is always going to pop up over the water. They can\u2019t keep doing this forever.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cIn the short run they\u2019ve had some successes. They took down Parler for a month, maybe a month and a half by the time we are back. And we will be back. And these people won\u2019t have anything to boycott. We\u2019ve made enormous investments and being resilient.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cWe could have been back up in a week, but we wanted to take our time. We will be back. That\u2019s a 100%. But we want to do it right. We learned a lot of lessons from this. It\u2019s like a football game. We had a plan, but it took a few hits for us to learn what we were doing wrong. We\u2019ve learned our lesson and we are building the most cancel-culture free, the most robust social media network. When it comes back its going to be resilient to all of this.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">On the contentious issue of government and its role in the regulation of internet and tech companies, Bongino explained that indirectly, the government already does this. \u201cThere is already a bigger role of government. There is significant precedent for cases where the government has used private actors to do things to people that the government can\u2019t do itself. There was an Alabama case,\u201d Bongino says, referring to the 1946 Supreme Court <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2016\/08\/facebook-censors-science-journalism-removes-pro-gmo-page\/\"><span class=\"s2\">ruling<\/span><\/a> on <em>Marsh v. Alabama,<\/em> in which the court ruled that a private space that is open to the public must also uphold public rights. Bongino added, \u201cthe government can\u2019t destroy our right to free speech. The government can get a private company to do this on their behalf.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Further prodding on the broad issue of government regulation in technology, I asked Bongino to expound on the much-maligned Communications Decency Act of 1996 \u2014 specifically, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/understanding-section-230-everything-you-need-to-know\/\"><span class=\"s2\">Section 230<\/span><\/a>. \u201cSection 230 is a total joke at this point. It\u2019s \u2018Law in Name Only.\u2019 The provision that allows sites to censor conservatives has to be replaced with an Internet Bill of Rights. It is incumbent upon a government who is supposed to represent all of us to represent us fairly. If we don\u2019t get some sort of Internet Bill of Rights, the internet will cleave in half. There will be a free speech internet, and a soviet-style censored internet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Having firsthand experience bracing the brunt of monopolistic Silicon Valley tech firms, Bongino offered advise to budding entrepreneurs. \u201cIt is incumbent upon you to review every contract you have; get every vendor you have, and cancel them before they cancel you if you don\u2019t think they are committed to free speech and protecting your rights. Get away from those companies. There are actual free speech companies out there you can use. You have to find companies that believe in free speech and are willing to give everyone the middle finger.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Bongino added, \u201cThis stuff takes time. It took Fox News over 10 years before they started to turn a profit. Not every one of these places is going to be an overnight success. Everything is going to be a prolonged and tough slog. But in the end, there are massive dividends and rewards to be paid. The Regan revolution lasted eight years; but it took the dreaded 60s and the entire 70s to finally bring about.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">With his sights fervently set on Parler\u2019s ensuing return, Bongino\u2019s message to Amazon is, \u201cwe\u2019ll see you guys in court. We will go bankrupt and destitute before we let this go. I have a platform and I won\u2019t stop talking about this. To any company that decides to do this, we are going to use every communications vehicle at our disposal to make sure that people are warned. Over time people will look back and ask what happened? And that\u2019s what happened: you turned into Soviets.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><em>Follow Harry Khachatrian on<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Harry1T6\"><span class=\"s2\"><em>Twitter<\/em><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\">&nbsp;<em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the weeks that followed November\u2019s general election, Parler, the social media platform founded in 2018 by engineers John Matze and Jared Thomson, was steadily gaining momentum as it rose &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1892748,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[5458,3725,3899,5525,5180,5528],"class_list":["post-119148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-bongino","tag-exclusive","tag-future","tag-governments","tag-parler","tag-role"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1892748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}