Parler is a social network that claims to be “non-biased, free speech social media focused on protecting user’s rights.” These claims have been contested lately, and now a deeper look into Parler shows a connection with a lobbying firm that donated to Hillary Clinton and that lobbied for big tech firms. On the Nevada business license page for Parler LLC, a company named “NDMascendant LLC” is listed as a manager.  The listed reservation holder for NDMascendant LLC is Greenberg Traurig.  Parler also had a separate expired Nevada business license registration with Greenberg Traurig’s name listed on it as well.

In the Officer’s section of Parler LLC, a company named “NDMascendant LLC” appears.

In the license page for NDMascendant, Greenberg Traurig appears as a name in the reservation holder section.

For those not familiar with the company, Greenberg Traurig is a big legal and lobbying firm. It is well-connected to lobbying and represented and continues to represent large firms in a vast amount of industries such as big media, big tech, telecom giants, etc. The company has lobbied for large tech companies such as Alibaba, Samsung, and Dell Technologies. In 1 year alone, Greenberg Traurig had over $8 million of lobbying income and all this lobbying data is available for viewing on OpenSecrets.

Many individuals at Greenberg Traurig have also made political donations, which can also be searched through on OpenSecrets as well. The most notable donation recipient is Hillary Clinton whom was the largest recipient by far during the 2016 presidential election. President Donald Trump did not appear to receive any donations from Greenberg Traurig during that year.

Parler isn’t a newcomer to the social media landscape by any means having launched about 2 years ago, however it has recently experienced a surge in popularity as many mainstream conservative online personalities have touted a new presence on the app.  This has led to many new users testing out the app for the first time, with many of these users documenting a poor first experience. Parler’s mobile app has so far established a 3 (out of 5) rating on Android and 3.7 (out of 5) rating on iOS, meaning the reception has been fairly lukewarm from most newcomers to the social media app who claim to  experience bugs throughout the application, a fairly challenging and unpolished interface, complaints about needing to submit a driver’s license photo as well as complaints from some users about having been wrongfully banned for their speech.

An expired business license from Parler that again showed Greenberg Traurig