'Free Speech' Social Network Parler Allegedly Censoring #WriteInTrumpforGA

Social network Parler has allegedly hidden posts on its website that are tagged as #WriteInTrumpForGA. The hashtag is encouraging disgruntled supporters of President Donald Trump to write the president in rather than any candidate for the upcoming Senate Runoff elections.

The hashtag originated in a Super PAC with GOP ties.The Committee for American Sovereignty, connected to political consultant Roger Stone, launched a website calling for people to "Hack the Runoff," and write in Trump. The website states:

With enough write-ins in the Georgia senate race, we can tilt the balance in Georgia in Trump's favor! If we can do this, we have a real chance at getting these RINO [Republican In Name Only] senators to act on the illegitimate and corrupt election presided over by a Democrat party that is invested in the Communist takeover of Our Great Nation. We will not stop fighting for you, the American Patriot, against the evils of Socialism and inferior Religions. This is a Christian Nation and will be as long as we fight, together, for our sovereignty.

A user on Twitter shared a screenshot of Parler's search screen. The screengrab shows no results for #WriteInTrumpforGA. However, a Newsweek search on Parler shows that there are 21 "Parleys" for the aforementioned hashtag, six for a #WriteInTrumpforSenateGA, and 52 for #WriteinTrumpGeorgiaRunoff.

While there are only a few Parleys in each category, the one with the most posts is the #WriteInTrump hashtag, which has 158 Parleys. Some Parler users also shared similar screenshots alleging that the social network was censoring the posts. "We need to #boycottgeorgiarunoffs #boycottgarunoff #boycottga #boycottgarunoffs and write in #trump2020 if you want to send a MESSAGE to RINOS if you are a real believer. Otherwise, the establishment gears will just keep churning, churning, churning. This is our chance," one post read.

A post on the app from Amy Peikoff from Parler's policy team said that the error may be due to a glitch and the reports that the app was not allowing the posts was false.

"This is false, as evidenced by the fact that this post showed up when I searched for the tag. There may be a glitch, or a delay of some kind, because the initial screen summarizing the results showed '1 post,' and then when you click on that, you see a whole bunch Please people, don't jump to conclusions. I know you're accustomed to biased content curation, but we don't do that here. Ask before jumping to conclusions," she wrote.

As previously reported, a number of disenchanted Trump-supporters in Georgia have voiced their frustration with the Republican Party in the wake of the president's election loss and what they believe is a failure for Republicans to join campaigns to investigate voter fraud and overturn the results of the election.

While some people have used the movement to show their frustration, Democrats have appropriated the movement to get Ossoff and Warnock elected rather than to "send a message." Left-leaning non-profit Act Blue launched a fundraiser, asking for donations to put up billboards criticizing Loeffler and Perdue. "Perdue/Loeffler Didn't Deliver For Trump, Don't Deliver For Them," the proposed billboards say.