Parler Layoffs: 75 Percent of Staff, Employees Face Termination—What is Happening?

The famous "free speech" social media platform, Parler, was reportedly laying off a massive percentage of its workforce for still unknown reasons. A significant 75 percent of its workers faced the boot from the company, leaving them with no jobs early this year and adding to the growing rate of unemployment in the country.

This is the next significant development within the Parler, after its recent canceled acquisition that would make the famous American rapper, Ye, the owner and CEO of the social media.

Parler Lays Off 75 Percent of its Employees, Staff

The Verge first reported that the company has been silently laying off its employees since late November 2022, and it continued until now, slashing off a significant number of its workforce. Sources familiar with the happenings claimed that since November, the Parlement Technologies have been consistent with layoffs until December.

By then, there was a significant 75 percent of the workforce that were removed from their jobs, with claims that there are only 20 people left working at Parler and Parlement's cloud services.

Executives are also part of these layoffs where chief technology, marketing, and operations officers were also removed from their posts.

Why is Parler Terminating its Employees?

According to the Engadget, it is still unknown why Parler and Parlement are downsizing the company. It leaves a massive question among the public regarding the continuation of its operations in the future, especially with its current size.

Some speculations point out the failed acquisition of Ye which is coincidental to these recent layoffs and suggests that it has some hand in current events.

Parler and its Platform

Back when free speech was a massive issue on social media platforms that have content moderation and a specific set of community guidelines, people flocked to Parler and other alternative sites. For people with extreme opinions and different beliefs, platforms like Facebook and Twitter are too restrictive for them, which made Parler the app to use.

However, its alleged handover at the 2021 Capitol siege by insurgents and armed civilians banned it online, with no servers willing to host for the company and work with its tarnished reputation.

For months, there have been several attempts from the social media to reinstate themselves on the app distribution platforms like the Apple App Store and the Google Play, only to be blocked by the companies.

Despite Parler getting its platforms back and operational for the public's need for a free speech app, it now faces unknown issues leading to its need to terminate its employees. The company did not mention the reason behind its significant downsizing, all after the recent turn of events where Kanye West backed out of the deal.