Apple CEO Tim Cook hopes the right-wing social media network Parler will return to the company’s App Store eventually because *checks notes* variety is the spice of life.
In an interview on the New York Times’ Sway podcast on Monday, Cook discussed everything from his thoughts on Elon Musk to US voting rights. But in addition to dropping hints about the highly anticipated Apple Car, he also asserted that he hopes Parler makes a comeback on the App Store.
“You can’t be inciting violence or allow people to incite violence. You can’t allow hate speech and so forth. And they had moved from moderating to not being able to moderate. But we gave them a chance to cure that. And they were unable to do that or didn’t do that. And so we had to pull them off,” Cook said, explaining why the controversial right-wing social media app that is used by the likes of Pete Evans was removed from the store.
But after admitting that the app either directly, or indirectly, incited violence, Cook said he hopes they return to the store.
“I hope that they come back on. Because we work hard to get people on the store, not to keep people off the store,” he said.
However, he did clarify that the app would only be allowed to return to the App Store if it adhered to the moderation policies required.
“I’m hoping that they put in the moderation that’s required to be on the store and come back, because I think having more social networks out there is better than having less,” Cook said.
Now, I understand that variety is the spice of life, but having more apples isn’t necessarily better than less if one of them is laced with poison, is it?
The app — which self-describes as the “free speech social network” — was removed from both Apple and Google’s app stores as well as Amazon’s web-hosting service earlier this year for its role in the US Capitol riot in January.
“We have always supported diverse points of view being represented on the App Store, but there is no place on our platform for threats of violence and illegal activity,” an Apple spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News at the time. “Parler has not taken adequate measures to address the proliferation of these threats to people’s safety. We have suspended Parler from the App Store until they resolve these issues.”
[related_content first=”1683577″]
At the time of removal, Apple’s App Reviews Board also sent a letter to Parler, explaining that the app would be “removed from the App Store until we receive an update that is compliant with the App Store Review Guidelines and you have demonstrated your ability to effectively moderate and filter the dangerous and harmful content on your service.”
Cook’s comments come less than a month after Parler was denied reentry into the App Store on February 25 for refusing to meet the moderation requirements.
“After having reviewed the new information, we do not believe these changes are sufficient to comply with App Store Review guidelines,” Apple wrote to Parler’s chief policy officer. “There is no place for hateful, racist, discriminatory content on the App Store.”
Following the rejection, Parler made the decision to lay off its last three iOS developers.