John Matze, a software engineer who was Parler’s co-founder and chief executive officer, said earlier this month that Ms. Mercer effectively fired him because of a disagreement over running the website. Ms. Mercer hired Mark Meckler, a leading voice in the tea party movement, to replace Mr. Matze.
Prior to the site’s return on Monday, Parler executives said they would be rejected by several web hosting companies who feared either a PR backlash or a cyberattack if they agreed to endorse the site.
On Monday morning after Parler suddenly surfaced again, the data behind its website showed it was backed by SkySilk. Hours later, SkySilk’s CEO, Mr. Matossian, sent an email stating that he would stand up for Parler.
“SkySilk does not advocate or tolerate hatred, but advocates the right to private judgment and rejects the role of judge, jury and executioner. Unfortunately, too many of our technology providers seem to be different, ”he said. “While we disagree with some of the sentiments posted on the Parler platform, we cannot allow the First Amendment rights to be hindered or restricted by anyone or any organization.”
About a week after it went offline, Parler set up a simple webpage for people who tried to visit his social network with simple messages saying the company was working on getting back online and support notes from conservatives like Sean Hannity, the host of Fox News. and Senator Rand Paul, Republican from Kentucky.
That site, so simple it could be hosted from a single laptop, still required cybersecurity protection to stay online, partly because Parler was attacked by internet guards who believe it had a role in the Have played riots in the Capitol.
To stay online, Parler got help from DDoS-Guard, a Russian company that has expressed concerns to some Internet researchers that the Russian government might be monitoring Parler users. Parler also worked with Epik, a Seattle company, on domain registration, a basic service on the Internet. Epik has supported other fringe sites that have lost support from other companies, including the Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi site.
