Plans to let former President Donald Trump become an active user of Parler got scuttled earlier this year when the social network refused to ban his critics from its platform, according to a report.
While Trump was still in office in January, representatives of the Trump family approached Parler with an offer to have the then-president move the bulk of his social media presence to the platform in exchange for 40 percent of the company’s gross revenues and a promise to “ban anyone who spoke negatively about him,” New York Magazine reported on Monday.
The company was reportedly on board with giving Trump much of its revenues but balked at his demands to censor his critics.
The conversation took place shortly before the Jan. 6 US Capitol riots and Trump’s Jan. 8 ban from Twitter, according to the report, which is an excerpt of an upcoming book by reporter Michael Wolff.
Parler did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.
The social media company, which is backed by Trump allies Bob and Rebekah Mercer, takes a less aggressive approach to content moderation than larger social media rivals like Twitter and Facebook.
Parler was forced offline in January after Amazon Web Services said it would stop supporting the company’s operations because of violent content on the platform. It was also banned from Apple’s App Store.
Parler came back online in February after finding a new web host and returned to Apple’s App Store in May after agreeing to crack down on violent and racist content. It is still not available on Google’s Play Store.