>Enter Parler, which is the first real, concerted effort by mainstream conservatives to move to a less hostile environment. Major politicians and commentators are making accounts under the pretense that Parler offers an unbiased form of informational commons, assuming that interactions won’t be met by oversight from self-appointed gatekeepers of proper opinions. Major politicians could go for Gab or some instance instead of waiting for a platform that gathers user data. >I was rather taken aback (as were others) by the necessity to provide a Social Security number for accessing some functions of the platform, and requiring users to provide a driver’s license to send direct messages is simply ridiculous. As if giving them your phone number wasn't enough already.