Google suspends Parler from Play Store

Internet giant Google has suspended US-based microblogging platform Parler – where most of the supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump are shifting their base — from its app store, citing posts inciting violence and demanding “robust” moderation for “egregious” content from the social networking service.

The move by the Silicon Valley company came the day when Twitter permanently suspended Trump’s account due to “risk of further incitement of violence”.

“In order to protect user safety on Google Play, our longstanding policies require that apps displaying user-generated content have moderation policies and enforcement that removes egregious content like spots that incite violence. All developers agree to these terms and we have reminded Parler of this clear policy in recent months,” Google said in a statement.

“We recognize that there can be reasonable debate about content policies and that it can be difficult for apps to immediately remove all volatile content, but for us to distribute an app through Google Play, we do require that apps implement robust moderation for egregious content. In light of this ongoing and urgent public safety threat, we are suspending the app from the Play Store until it addresses these issues,” said Google, whose software powers Android phones.

Parler has a significant user base of Trump supporters and conservatives.