Fort Worth police group says it joined Parler to secure handle, be accessible to public
The Fort Worth Police Officers Association faced criticism Saturday after tweeting about the group’s account on Parler, a social media site that many extremists used to plan the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.
In a now-deleted tweet, the FWPOA wrote, “Connect with us on @Parler_App! Have a safe weekend! #Parler.”
A screenshot of the tweet was shared across Twitter, and many questioned why the FWPOA wanted to connect with people on a site that has become a hot bed of hate speech, incitement of violence and discrimination. Urged by President Donald Trump, thousands of people planned the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 using Parler and other platforms.
In a statement, the FWPOA said it joined Parler to secure a protected handle and ensure no one falsely created a FWPOA account to use for “nefarious means.”
“It was explained to me as securing the handle so that no one could co-opt the brand and masquerade as the association,” FWPOA President Manny Ramirez said.
However, Ramirez said there was no reason for the FWPOA to tweet about and advertise the Parler account, so the tweet was deleted.
Due to the hate speech and violent content spreading across Parler, Amazon, Google and Apple kicked the app off all platforms. As of Monday, the app was inaccessible to users and will remain unusable unless a new hosting provider picks it up.
Ramirez said even if the app was usable, he does not think “that the POA should be active on that app in any capacity.”
“I understand securing the handle, but like I said, there was no overarching message that the POA is switching from this social media platform to this platform,” he said.
The FWPOA said in its official statement that part of the reason it created a Parler account was because the association wanted to be accessible for the community, no matter what platform they use.
“It is not the position of the FWPOA to determine which social media outlets our community members utilize, only to be as accessible as possible to our members and the public,” the statement said. “Regardless of which social media app our community members choose to use, it is our goal to be responsive and to share important and relevant public safety information.”
Ramirez also said law enforcement tracks social media platforms to monitor hate speech, discrimination or incitement of violence.
“We recognize there is a danger there, so I think everyone has to be vigilant on those apps,” he said. “And I think that if there is incitement of violence, then those who are doing it need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
The FWPOA statement and Ramirez condemned hate speech, no matter the platform.
“I absolutely understand that social media and social media apps are polarizing issues right now,” Ramirez said. “But there should be nothing polarizing about supporting law enforcement and nothing polarizing about denouncing and condemning any violent hate speech or any incitement of violence. We should all be united in that, and we are. There is no controversy there from my perspective.”
For years, alt-right extremists have used mainstream social media platforms, such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, to plan violent actions and build support, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
As those platforms started cracking down on hate speech, many users shifted to apps such as Parler, which has less restrictions.
This story was originally published January 11, 2021 at 4:05 PM.
