A rumor was recently spreading about Parler. It said that the website for the right-wing got hacked. It was told that the numbers of Social Security and the private messages of the users of Parler, got stolen. The source of all this was a screenshot that was taken months ago, followed by just one tweet.
Kevinabosch posted something on Twitter that caused the rumor to go viral. The post said that the user witnessed proof that almost 5000 accounts of Parler, along with the private messages of some influential people, had been compromised. However, there was no authentic evidence to support this claim.
Parler was not hacked, say the professionals
- According to a reporter from Buzzfeed, Jane Lytvynenko, it was a false claim. The Buzzfeed reporter, who also administers viral misinformation over social media, said that this was not the first time that the Twitter account spread unreliable information. It was done several times before. So, the tweet was removed on 25, November.
A screenshot was circulated over social media, later. It showed that the Parler hack did, really, take place. It was taken in July 2020. The screenshot came out after a few months than the first rumor was out.
However, the screenshot was not taken from Parler’s site. It was instead, taken from the installation of Parler, from an outdated WordPress.
- According to, Mikael Thalen the WordPress site was free from any data of the user. However, there a possibility that it has been used before, like for postings of simple blogs, etc.
- John Matze, the CEO of Parler, himself supported the aforementioned statements. He rejected all the theories of faking the hack. He published his statement that said that Parler does not use any databases of WordPress, or WordPress itself.
Regardless of everything, there is no evidence pointing strongly, or even slightly, towards the Parler hack. Both the private messages and the numbers of social security, do not provide any base for argument. Therefore, in absence of evidence, the claim was a false one. The rumor began with a screenshot that lacks any proof of what it conveys.
In case there comes any new information concerning the Parler hack, we will most definitely update you.
