Parler was one of the first conservative alternatives to mainstream platforms has lost 75 per cent of its staff since Christmas and only has 20 employees left. The remainers appear to be propping up the company's cloud venture. 

 A majority of the company's executives, including its chief technology, operations, and marketing officers, have also been laid off, according to a source familiar with the matter.

For those who came in late Parler was founded in 2018 at the height of former President Donald Trump's war against social media platforms over their alleged discrimination against "conservative" users. The platform marketed itself as a "free speech" alternative to more mainstream platforms like Facebook and Twitter, offering what it billed as anti-censorship moderation policies.

The app surged in popularity throughout the 2020 presidential election cycle, registering more than 7,000 new users per minute at its peak that November. But everything went to hell after the right wing attempted coup to overturn the US election. Apple and Google expelled the app from their app stores after criticism that it was used to plan and coordinate the attack.  These bans prevented new users from downloading the app, effectively shutting down user growth.

This should be bad news for Elon [look at me] Musk who has been building his new look Twitter hoping to attract the same audience who would have been would normally have been served by Parler.