‘They’re obsessed with us’: Parler CEO rebuffs ‘hacking’ rumor, investor not surprised ‘liberal imbeciles’ on Twitter fell for it

The CEO and a major stakeholder at Parler have denied viral rumors the anti-censorship platform fell victim to a cyber attack, accusing “journalistic hacks” on Twitter of propelling the fake claim on the basis of wishful thinking.

While gossip about the alleged intrusion sent #ParlerHacked to the top of the Twitter trends on Tuesday, company CEO John Matze dispelled the rumor in a post on his own platform, insisting “all allegations are fake” and that the site’s critics are simply “obsessed with us.”

“The alleged ‘Parler hack’ is a screenshot from a WordPress website that has been circulated repeatedly over the past 6 months, despite Parler’s multiple responses that we do not use WordPress products, nor WordPress databases,” Matze wrote.

This is an irresponsible rumor which uses a ‘techie’ looking WordPress config file which is only capable of confusing a journalistic hack, not an actual hacker. If Twitter continues to fact check others, they should also fact check posts such as these that spread viral misinformation.

Daily Dot journalist Mikael Thalen also weighed in to back up Matze’s explanation, stating that the screenshot in question is indeed old news.

He also reiterated a point made by Buzzfeed’s Jane Lytvynenko regarding the reliability of one of the main figures spreading the new rumor – Kevin Abosch, a self-avowed “artist” and “data scientist.” Abosch claimed to have seen “what looks like legit proof” that thousands of Parler accounts had been “compromised,” but declined to share any evidence.

Though his Twitter handle previously suggested an affiliation with the New York Times, Abosch quietly altered the bio on Tuesday night after netizens noted that he does not work at the outlet, and had merely been the subject of a profile story in 2018.

Conservative radio host and Parler stakeholder Dan Bongino pointed to another individual helping to lend credence to the ‘hack’ story – Twitter-verified tech entrepreneur William LeGate, who also referenced the questionable screenshot – adding that the rumor was “designed exclusively for lib imbeciles to run with. Of course, they fell for it.”

Other right-of-center commentators soon echoed Matze’s call for Twitter to “fact check” the hacking allegation, urging the company to treat the rumor as it did an October story in the New York Post, which posited shady foreign business dealings by the Joe Biden family. While the article was promptly blacklisted from Twitter for several days on the basis that it was illicitly obtained “hacked material” – an assumption never actually proven – the rumors about Parler have been allowed to circulate freely.

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