The controversial social network Parler relaunched on February 15, after having been removed from the Apple and Google mobile app stores.
As a response, NewsGuard and PeakMetrics analyzed more than 17,000 posts published on Parler around January 6 (the date of the “assault on the Capitol” by Trump supporters) that specifically included news links. Their analysis indicates that 87% of news links shared on the social network Parler came from sources that frequently publish false information. These sources namely included a North Macedonian website called “American Conservatives Today,” conspiracy websites affiliated with the QAnon movement and a video website belonging to Alex Jones (a famous American conspiracy theorist). Among the many false allegations analyzed by NewsGuard is the claim that Dominion Voting Systems, a manufacturer of voting machines, rigged its machines in order to shift votes for former president Donald Trump to Joe Biden.
NewsGuard, which evaluates the reliability of thousands of sources of information, found that “American Conservatives Today” was the most-linked news source on Parler during the study period (linked 2,917 times). This media outlet is however considered by NewsGuard as extremely unreliable (0 out of 100 on their credibility scale). Parler is therefore a platform that massively promotes disinformation.
