What is 'Parler', the new favorite social network of the American right?

In a few months, the social network which hosts the right of the American right has seen its attendance skyrocket. Here, President Trump is still considered the winner of the election, by a community of supporters who have their stars. Like a parallel information bubble, which we tested for you.

The service describes itself as "the place of the world village", a social network dedicated to freedom of expression, an alternative especially to Twitter. While a number of alternative social networks have existed or still exist, with varying degrees of success, it has started booming, the iPhone application is thus at the top of its category on the Apple App Store.

The explanation is simple: if nothing allows to guess it on the home page of Parler, the network is almost entirely dedicated to the American right, rather even to the right-wing fringe of the Republican Party, to this part of the opinion which considers itself mistreated, censored by the media and the large general social networks. And no one on Parler will come to contradict them.

The registration resembles in all respects that of a 100% normal network. Pick an ID, add a photo, and the network will get you started by offering to follow some of the most prominent, most followed personalities. And this is where the obvious becomes clear: the stars of Parler are not those of Twitter or Instagram, here no pop stars, beauty influencers, or famous sportsmen. On the first screen of these proposals, there are two Fox News presenters, three elected Republicans, and conservative columnists. The offered panel represents more the right wing of the party.

The service makes it possible to discover personalities on the fringes of the American alt-right, and to go beyond the inner circle of elected officials, analysts, former members of the executive, and presenters of Fox News. Thus, we got to know Laura Loomer, whom Wikipedia describes as "far-right activist, anti-Muslim, and conspiratorial". She describes herself simply, but in all capitals, as "THE MOST BLOCKED WOMAN IN THE WORLD".

Unsurprisingly, the content on Speaking over the last few days is all to the glory of a president who everything shows that he is the only legitimate winner of the presidential election ... since nothing that is published here will contradict him. It is not on Parler that you will read the New York Times investigation, which, state by state, into fraud claimed by Donald Trump's campaign team, and which the daily did not find. On the other hand, most of the conspiracy theories which are on the fringes of traditional social networks have pride of place here. Parler's policy is to let the user control the people and topics they want to filter out, and ban from their news feed and notifications. As its founder John Matze explains, Parler erases only publications condemned by justice. "For the rest, we avoid deciding for others what is true or false about what people post on Talking. We are not fact-checkers. We will not tell you what to think."

At a time when Donald Trump supporters have even categorized Fox News as "enemy" media for first attributing victory in Arizona to Joe Biden, the circle of news sources who have remained loyal to the president is shrinking. week to week. Enough to make Parler a place both inflammatory and comfortable, where nothing - and especially not the facts - will contradict the faith of fans convinced that the election was stolen from their leader.

An echo chamber where what is happening outside is a bit scary. Obviously, the danger is to stay here in an information bubble, however comfortable it may be, without confronting the reality outside. Hope shared by fans of Parler: to see arrive, as quickly as possible, the only subscriber who is still missing from the service, the future-ex-president, Donald Trump.

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