Parler gains 500,000 new accounts after Twitter bans conservative voices

Half a million people have signed onto the alternative social media platform Parler after Twitter suspended two conservative accounts on Tuesday.

Parler's user base surged to 1.5 million users as many conservative have jumped ship from Twitter, raising the up and coming social platform's user count by 50% of what it was before the accounts were suspended from Twitter, according to the Daily Caller.

This rise in numbers for Parler came after Twitter banned Carpe Donktum and locked the account for Raheem Kassam, the Editor-in-Chief of The National Pulse. These two accounts each have over 200,000 followers.

Conservatives have been frustrated by the banning, suspending, and censoring of prominent conservative voices, and have chosen to give Parler a try—a social media platform marketed as the free speech alternative to Facebook and Twitter.

The most recent major account to get the axe by Twitter is Graham Linehan, who was permanently banned for making a "transphobic" tweet.

Personalities that have long since been barred from the major social media platforms who use Parler include Gavin McInnes, Laura Loomer, and Alex Jones.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz and Republican Florida Representative Matt Gaetz have now moved over to Parler as well.

“The left wants to defund the actual police,” Gaetz posted to Parler. “I would just like to defund the thought police in Silicon Valley.”

Parler does restrict certain content, but the platform has decided to use broadcast standards, which means it censors pornography but no political speech.

Conservatives first started migrating to Parler in 2018. Parler co-founder and CEO John Matze said in 2018 that "big tech is not too big to topple, in fact, they are blinded by their size/power and are hurting themselves by ideologically targeting groups."