Big tech’s decision to ban the Parler app and block outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump is stoking support for alternative social networking sites and apps that bill themselves as promoting free speech and privacy.
Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. took the strongest action yet to address accusations that their platforms are being used to stoke conspiracy theories, misinformation and incite violence after a mob at a Trump rally broke into the U.S. Capitol last week. Right-wing users have felt maligned and moved to alternative sites like Parler, backed by Rebekah Mercer, the daughter of hedge fund investor Robert Mercer. A rush to the site late last year made Parler the top downloaded app following President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
Trump, who was banned permanently from Twitter, said he may build his own social platform. “We will not be SILENCED,” he said in a Twitter post from the official presidential account that has since been removed.
With Parler out of the game, here’s where users are going instead:
Gab
Gab Chief Executive Officer Andrew Torba said the social network got 600,000 new users in the early hours of Monday alone after Parler was taken off the internet by Amazon Web Services. As of April 2020, the site had 1.16 million registered accounts and 3.7 million unique monthly users.
In addition to the social network, Gab also has a “Dissenter” web browser that blocks ads, a merchandise shop that sells t-shirts that say “Deleting Silicon Valley” and a subscription Gab Pro site.
Some of Gab’s most popular groups are for Trump supporters, QAnon and ‘Stop the Steal,’ several with more than 100,000 members. Gab has been funded by its founders, users, premium subscriptions and crowdfunding. Torba owns most of the company and controls 80% of voting shares.
Telegram
Channels bearing the names of Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr. have hundreds of thousands of followers on encrypted messaging app Telegram. The company, founded by Russian-born entrepreneur Pavel Durov, raised $1.7 billion in 2018 to make its own crypto currency, a project that was ultimately abandoned after running afoul of regulators. Vedomosti newspaper reported that billionaire Roman Abramovich and businessmen David Yakobashvili and Sergei Solonin were among investors. On Sunday, Trump Jr. shared a list of links to other conservative accounts to follow, such as Right Side Broadcasting Network, PragerU and Turning Point USA, as well as groups like a Trump Supporters Channel.
The app, which competes with the likes of Facebook’s WhatsApp and has about 7 million monthly active users in the U.S., has seen downloads spike to more than 133,000 a day on Sunday up from a usual range of about 34,000 to 60,000, according to data from Apptopia.
WhatsApp has seen an exodus of some high-profile users such as billionaire Elon Musk following an update to the service’s privacy policy that requires its 2 billion users to share data with Facebook.
Rumble
Calling itself a “censorship free video platform,” the Canadian YouTube competitor is used by Conservative commentators including: Sean Hannity, the Daily Caller, Dinesh D’Souza, the One America News Network and Steve Bannon. Commentators beneath the site’s top news video on Monday morning, a Fox News interview about the Parler ban with Republican Congressman Devin Nunes, expressed outrage and discussed a coming “civil war.” The site was founded by Chris Pavlovski in 2013 and has 50 million unique users a month.
MeWe
The social networking site, founded by Mark Weinstein, promotes its privacy credentials and doesn’t support ads. The site has seen more than 1 million new users sign up in the last 72 hours and is currently adding more than 20,000 members an hour, according to a spokesman. “People are leaving Facebook and Twitter in droves because they are fed up with the relentless privacy violations, surveillance capitalism, targeting, political bias, and newsfeed manipulation by these companies,” spokesman David Westreich said in an email.
MeWe lists Tim Berners-Lee, the British computer scientist and privacy advocate credited with inventing the World Wide Web, as an adviser. Its terms of service say, among other things, that users aren’t allowed to bully, harass, intimidate or harm another user or make posts that incite violence or are hateful or threatening or risk having their accounts suspended or permanently canceled.
Its political pages include groups sympathetic to QAnon, such as the Great Awakening and the Empowered Citizen Institute’s Great Awakening Patriots a group that’s been banned from Twitter. The company ranked fourth on Apple’s App Store two days after the U.S. presidential race was called for Biden. MeWe raised $5.2 million in 2018 from investors including Lynda Weinman, who sold Lynda.com to LinkedIn in 2015, author Marci Shimoff, Rachel Roy and Chicken Soup for the Soul creator Jack Canfield.
2nd1st
Created by Howly Inc., 2nd1st says it offers uncensored news and tells users on its app “we must not yield to advertisers or cancel culture.” The app costs 9.99 pounds for a subscription in the U.K. Top posts on the app on Monday included mock-ups of Jesus standing behind President Trump, vague warnings about a revolution or history changing event tied to Trump and skepticism about requirements to wear masks to prevent Covid-19.
None of the companies listed here, aside from MeWe, responded to a request for comment. A representative for 2nd1st couldn’t be found and an email address for Gab’s press office appeared to be faulty.
TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. says it has signed a deal that will result in the creation of its first eyewear collection.
The deal announced on Thursday by the Toronto-based luxury apparel company comes in the form of an exclusive, long-term global licensing agreement with Marchon Eyewear Inc.
The terms and value of the agreement were not disclosed, but Marchon produces eyewear for brands including Lacoste, Nike, Calvin Klein, Ferragamo, Longchamp and Zeiss.
Marchon plans to roll out both sunglasses and optical wear under the Canada Goose name next spring, starting in North America.
Canada Goose says the eyewear will be sold through optical retailers, department stores, Canada Goose shops and its website.
Canada Goose CEO Dani Reiss told The Canadian Press in August that he envisioned his company eventually expanding into eyewear and luggage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Almost seven years since news broke of an alleged conspiracy to fix the price of packaged bread across Canada, the saga isn’t over: the Competition Bureau continues to investigate the companies that may have been involved, and two class-action lawsuits continue to work their way through the courts.
Here’s a timeline of key events in the bread price-fixing case.
Oct. 31, 2017: The Competition Bureau says it’s investigating allegations of bread price-fixing and that it was granted search warrants in the case. Several grocers confirm they are co-operating in the probe.
Dec. 19, 2017: Loblaw and George Weston say they participated in an “industry-wide price-fixing arrangement” to raise the price of packaged bread. The companies say they have been co-operating in the Competition Bureau’s investigation since March 2015, when they self-reported to the bureau upon discovering anti-competitive behaviour, and are receiving immunity from prosecution. They announce they are offering $25 gift cards to customers amid the ongoing investigation into alleged bread price-fixing.
Jan. 31, 2018: In court documents, the Competition Bureau says at least $1.50 was added to the price of a loaf of bread between about 2001 and 2016.
Dec. 20, 2019: A class-action lawsuit in a Quebec court against multiple grocers and food companies is certified against a number of companies allegedly involved in bread price-fixing, including Loblaw, George Weston, Metro, Sobeys, Walmart Canada, Canada Bread and Giant Tiger (which have all denied involvement, except for Loblaw and George Weston, which later settled with the plaintiffs).
Dec. 31, 2021: A class-action lawsuit in an Ontario court covering all Canadian residents except those in Quebec who bought packaged bread from a company named in the suit is certified against roughly the same group of companies.
June 21, 2023: Bakery giant Canada Bread Co. is fined $50 million after pleading guilty to four counts of price-fixing under the Competition Act as part of the Competition Bureau’s ongoing investigation.
Oct. 25 2023: Canada Bread files a statement of defence in the Ontario class action denying participating in the alleged conspiracy and saying any anti-competitive behaviour it participated in was at the direction and to the benefit of its then-majority owner Maple Leaf Foods, which is not a defendant in the case (neither is its current owner Grupo Bimbo). Maple Leaf calls Canada Bread’s accusations “baseless.”
Dec. 20, 2023: Metro files new documents in the Ontario class action accusing Loblaw and its parent company George Weston of conspiring to implicate it in the alleged scheme, denying involvement. Sobeys has made a similar claim. The two companies deny the allegations.
July 25, 2024: Loblaw and George Weston say they agreed to pay a combined $500 million to settle both the Ontario and Quebec class-action lawsuits. Loblaw’s share of the settlement includes a $96-million credit for the gift cards it gave out years earlier.
Sept. 12, 2024: Canada Bread files new documents in Ontario court as part of the class action, claiming Maple Leaf used it as a “shield” to avoid liability in the alleged scheme. Maple Leaf was a majority shareholder of Canada Bread until 2014, and the company claims it’s liable for any price-fixing activity. Maple Leaf refutes the claims.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:L, TSX:MFI, TSX:MRU, TSX:EMP.A, TSX:WN)
TORONTO – TD Bank Group, which is mired in a money laundering scandal in the U.S., says chief executive Bharat Masrani will retire next year.
Masrani, who will retire officially on April 10, 2025, says the bank’s, “anti-money laundering challenges,” took place on his watch and he takes full responsibility.
The bank named Raymond Chun, TD’s group head, Canadian personal banking, as his successor.
As part of a transition plan, Chun will become chief operating officer on Nov. 1 before taking over the top job when Masrani steps down at the bank’s annual meeting next year.
TD also announced that Riaz Ahmed, group head, wholesale banking and president and CEO of TD Securities, will retire at the end of January 2025.
TD has taken billions in charges related to ongoing U.S. investigations into the failure of its anti-money laundering program.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
