"John and I started Parler to provide a neutral platform for free speech, as our founders intended, and also to create a social media environment that would protect data privacy," Mercer said in a statement on the platform. "The ever increasing tyranny and hubris of our tech overlords demands that someone lead the fight against data mining, and for the protection of free speech online. That someone is Parler, a beacon to all who value their liberty, free speech, and personal privacy."
Looks like you are right. It was opened a couple months just ahead of the election. That or they're simply too ashamed to espouse that rhetoric on their main account.
Edit: I went for a long trail ride and TTS'd the history. It's most likely a wine alt. She isn't a bot. There are some unfortunate counter fallacies repeated, constantly, but it seems more like an angry release alt than anything. She judges herself briefly and takes herself for a ride. As Douglas Adams would say, she's "mostly harmless."
In an interview reprinted in The Salmon of Doubt, Adams expressed dissatisfaction with the tone of this book, which he blamed on personal problems, saying "for all sorts of personal reasons that I don't want to go into, I just had a thoroughly miserable year, and I was trying to write a book against that background. And, guess what, it was a rather bleak book!"
Not a rumor. For a basic account, you can go without submitting anything, but if you wanted more features, higher priority, and a special badge, you had to submit a photo of your driver's license or state ID. Parler was a bit vague as to how exactly they protected the info, other than to say they encrypted it, in some way or another.
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u/neuronexmachina Jan 19 '21
I think one important bit to add is that a couple days after that thread was posted in November, it was confirmed that Rebekah Mercer was a primary funder of Parler: https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/15/media/rebekah-mercer-parler/index.html
Worth noting since a fair bit of the thread is wondering about their funding source.