At least four Tory MPs, probably five or more, have joined Parler, the social media platform of choice for right-wing extremists.
Parler has gone offline today after Amazon withdrew its ‘cloud platform’ services, so the profiles can no longer be opened, but screenshots taken before the platform went down show at least four Tory MPs with profiles:
- Ben Bradley
- Maria Caulfield
- Steve Baker
- Mark Jenkinson
A Conservative Reddit page also points to a profile for Michael Gove, but the profile cannot currently be accessed. Other Conservative MPs may well be identified if and when the platform resumes. While the far right has flocked to Parler, including a new influx after Twitter removed Donald Trump’s access, both Twitter and Facebook appear to have targeted ordinary left accounts far more routinely.
Facebook recently and belatedly admitting that its platform has done more to limit left pages for fear of offending right-wingers, while Twitter has shown a Pavlovian response in suspending left accounts after vexatious complaints by right-wing trolls.
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