Parler Says CEO Matze Mischaracterized Terms of Departure

(Bloomberg) -- Parler said John Matze mischaracterized the events and circumstances of his termination as chief executive officer of the social-media company, calling them “inaccurate and misleading.”

On Wednesday, Matze wrote a memo to staff saying the board of Parler, controlled by Rebekah Mercer, “decided to immediately terminate my position as CEO of Parler. I did not participate in this decision.”

Amazon Web Services pulled cloud support for Parler after its users helped to plan violent riots at the U.S. Capitol in January. Apple Inc. and Google also removed the app from their app stores.

“Over the past few months, I've met constant resistance to my product vision, my strong belief in free speech and my view of how the Parler site should be managed,” Matze wrote in the memo, which was obtained by Fox News. “For example, I advocated for more product stability and what I believe is a more effective approach to content moderation.”

In a response on Thursday, Parler said the owners and managers of the company “worked tirelessly to build a resilient, non-partisan platform dedicated to freedom of expression, civil discourse, and user privacy. That has been and continues to be our vision, and any assertions to the contrary are false.”

Chief Policy Officer Amy Peikoff also said Parler is “continuing to move forward with our relaunch and look forward to welcoming everyone back very soon.”

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