Bolsonaros and Followers Flee Twitter to Join Conservative Social Network ‘Parler’

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Bolsonaro family and their followers are the newest global right-wing group to join Parler. The social network created in 2018 works almost identically to Twitter, but with one major difference: less regulation of offensive content.

Parler’s homepage says the network is “unbiased” and with moderated content based on the US Federal Communications Commission and the US Supreme Court position “which allows freedom of expression without violence and absence of censorship.”

On Wednesday, July 1st, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro debuted his account and asked his Twitter followers to migrate with him to Parler. “Follow me on Parler! The social network that has freedom of expression as its priority!” the senator published on his Twitter feed.

In March, Twitter deleted one of the senator’s posts, a decontextualized video in which doctor Drauzio Varella advised the population not to change their lifestyle because of the novel coronavirus. The video was dated January 2020, when there were still no cases of Covid-19 in Brazil – the first case was confirmed on February 26th.

In addition to Flávio, author Olavo de Carvalho, President Jair Bolsonaro, and Federal Deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro also joined Parler in recent days. With them, thousands of loyal followers, who took to Parler the same position defending the President and what they call “conservative values”, with the advantage of rarely being challenged by critics, who abound on Twitter.

As well as Flávio Bolsonaro, President Jair Bolsonaro, and Eduardo Bolsonaro have already had their posts deleted by Twitter, which has stepped up measures to contain the spread of offensive content on its platform. These global initiatives have also impacted politicians and their supporters around the world, particularly the right-wing in the United States and the United Kingdom.

In Donald Trump’s country, it is mostly the President’s supporters who have joined Parler, in reaction to the persistent limitations imposed by Twitter on the content published by the US President. Last week, Republican lawmakers linked to Trump, among them Texas Senator Ted Cruz, created their Parler accounts.

Trump’s re-election campaign is now also publishing its contents on the social network. According to CNBC, in one week Parler’s user base grew from one million to 1.5 million users. On Twitter, this number stands at 330 million, according to the online platform Our World In Data, linked to Oxford University in the United Kingdom.

Although Parler offers users a broader range of freedom of expression than they might find on Twitter, it does have its limitations. It has already banned users over posts that violate its rules. The bans have had a negative impact on some users, which has led CEO John Matze to be more educational on the social network.

“To those who are complaining on Twitter about being banned from Parler, please pay attention: there are some very basic rules we need you to follow. If they’re not to your liking, we’re sorry, but we enforce them,” he wrote.

Matze reminded users that photos of fecal material, pornography, usernames with obscene words, repetitive cursing, and death threats are not allowed on the social network.

Source: O Estado de S. Paulo

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