Parler transfers domain name to Epik, domain registrar of choice for the far right

Source: Marshable

January 12, 2021 at 10:49

IMAGE: JAAP ARRIENS/NURPHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES

While multiple online service providers have cut ties with right-wing social media platform Parler, one company is welcoming its business.

On Monday, Parler transferred its domain to Epik, a domain name registrar that has become a safe haven for far-right websites.

Epik put out a statement on Monday claiming it had no contact or discussion with Parler prior to the transfer of the Parler.com domain name. A number of blogs covering the domain name industry first noticed the transfer.

Before the changeover, Parler’s previous domain name registrar, DreamHost, received backlash on social media for providing services to the controversial right-wing platform.

What's up @DreamHost? https://t.co/Argv6htVeR
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) January 10, 2021

Earlier today, Amazon officially cut ties with Parler, which was using its web hosting services, essentially taking down its entire platform. A number of other web companies have ended relationships with Parler as well, in the wake of the storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters on Jan. 6.

Many of Parler’s users openly planned the violent attack on the Capitol using the platform. Amazon cited the fact that Parler’s lax approach to content moderation broke the company’s terms of service.

Epik, along with its CEO Robert Monster, has a history of coming to the defense of the far right online. The company's statement on the Parler domain transfer rails against Big Tech companies that have deplatformed right wing users.

The company also currently hosts the domain of the far right social network Gab.com and the domain name for the Proud Boy’s former websites. Epik also once hosted 8chan’s domain name, now known as 8kun, but eventually dumped the site following its connection to a 2019 mass shooting in El Paso, Texas

CEO Monster also once defended David Duke on a white nationalist podcast.

The domain registrar was most recently in the news when Paypal terminated Epik’s account. A source close to the situation told Mashable at the time that PayPal cut ties with Epik over the domain name company’s legally questionable “alternative currency,” Masterbucks. The source claimed that the company was openly encouraging tax evasion with the service, which caused PayPal to cut ties.

At the time, Epik put out an unhinged statement about PayPal’s decision, attacking Joe Biden’s son Hunter, CNN, the Southern Poverty Law Center, as well as Chris Evans and Mark Ruffalo of Marvel’s The Avengers...for some reason.

The right-wing social media company said it would be quite a while before it’s able to get it’s website back online. While Parler deals with that issue, it can rest safe knowing its domain name is sitting in a welcoming place.