Samuel Corum/Getty Images
- Apple will allow Parler back on its app store after the app changed its moderation policies.
- It was banned from app stores due to faulty content reviewing processes after the Capitol siege.
- Parler is favored among the right and is billed as a Twitter alternative committed to free speech.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Apple will allow Parler to return to its app store after it was kicked off following the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol. CNN first reported the news.
Apple wrote a letter to Congress informing senators that the company had approved the changes that Parler had made to its app since being banned. The letter was specifically addressed to Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and House Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado. It said Parler has "proposed updates to its app and the app's content moderation practices."
Sen. Buck posted the letter to his Twitter account, saying Parler's return to Apple's app store is a "huge win for free speech."
-Congressman Ken Buck (@RepKenBuck) April 19, 2021
"Apple anticipates that the updated Parler app will become available immediately upon Parler releasing it," Apple said in the letter.
Apple and Parler did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Parler was restricted in January due to demands to better crack down on hate speech and incitement of violence. Others in the corporate world, such as Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services, distancing themselves from the company as well.
Parler is an alternative to social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter and touts itself as a community committed to free speech. Twitter and Facebook have taken action against some Republicans in the past year over, such as former President Donald Trump. Twitter began adding fact check labels to his tweets last May when he posted baseless claims that the 2020 presidential election would be fraudulent due to mail-in voting.
Parler attempted to get back on Apple's app store in February but was blocked because of what Apple said was the continued proliferation of hateful language and Nazi symbols. A Parler spokesperson told Insider in mid-March that the app was working to mitigate the spread of such content with human content moderators and algorithmic changes.
The spokesperson also said at the time that it was "optimistic that Apple will continue to differentiate itself from other 'Big Tech' companies by supporting its customers' choice to 'think different.'"