Parler Gets Unexpected Help in Latest Comeback Bid
Salesforce booted the Trump campaign from its email marketing tools after Jan. 6, but the company now seems to be helping a right-wing social network hawk its message.
Getty
Parler, a social network that was driven out by Big Tech after playing an integral role in planning for the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot, is apparently making a comeback using the services of a Silicon Valley giant.
The right-wing social network Parler is sending its email blasts via software made by Salesforce, the largest employer in San Francisco and the owner of the city’s biggest skyscraper.
According to domain registry records reviewed by The Daily Beast, Parler is using Salesforce Marketing Cloud, an automated email marketing product also known as ExactTarget, to send out email blasts like the one it sent Friday night with the subject line “No more being silenced.” Independent open-source researcher Max Kamin-Cross first flagged the domain records.
Parler told its subscribers, “Don’t let fact-checking algorithms stifle your voice. After being scapegoated and ‘disappeared,’ Parler is back, securing your right to speak freely on the internet.” The company hawked its iOS and Android apps and a partnership with NASCAR driver JJ Yeley. The former returned to Apple’s App Store in May. Its Android app is still unavailable in the Google Play store.
The social network is sending the emails via the domain parlermailer.com, a domain registered and attached to Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Salesforce is Parler’s sole email marketing provider. The company signed up for Salesforce’s services in April.
Salesforce had booted the Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign from its email tools after Jan. 6. In 2015, CEO Marc Benioff canceled company events in Indiana in response to the passage of an anti-gay law signed by then-governor Mike Pence, threatening “slow rolling of economic sanctions.” The company that became Salesforce Marketing Cloud was headquartered in Indianapolis, and Salesforce maintains a workforce of thousands there. Salesforce did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Parler previously used Amazon’s Simple Email Service product for its email. Amazon Web Services kicked Parler’s website to the curb after the Capitol riot, but it found a new home with Epik, a web host that has made a home for a number of inflammatory right-wing sites.
-- Adam Rawnsley contributed reporting