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March 2, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – Social media alternative Parler may be back online, but Apple is remaining tight-lipped about when it will allow the application to return to its app distribution platform.

Apple, Google, and Amazon blacklisted Parler in January, with Amazon forcing the entire site to go down until it managed to arrange an alternative web-hosting solution to replace Amazon Web Services. The moves were based on the left-wing companies’ claims that Parler took insufficient action to remove user comments that supposedly contributed to the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill.

Despite the website’s comeback, the Daily Caller reports that Apple CEO Tim Cook refused to answer a question about when Parler could return to the App Store during the company’s latest shareholder meeting. iPhone and iPad users can still access Parler on those devices via their web browsers.

“Now that Parler is back online with increased safeguards, when will it be allowed back on the App Store?” asked Justin Danhof, director of the National Center for Public Policy Research’s Free Enterprise Project. “It was one of the most downloaded apps in 2020 and reached number 1 in January. And while I disagree with its actions, Facebook’s recent removal of massive amounts of content – largely conservative voices – means that it trafficked for years in what the left calls ‘hate speech.’ Why was it never removed from the App Store?”

At The Federalist, Internet Accountability Project senior adviser Rachel Bovard notes that, of the 233 charging documents filed by the Department of Justice against alleged January 6 rioters, “73 reference posts on Facebook as evidence, 24 reference posts [on] YouTube, 20 single out Instagram posts (owned by Facebook), and only eight highlight posts on Parler.”

Regardless, Cook ignored Danhoff’s question, leading Danhoff to comment: “Apple can claim that it removed Parler from its App Store for violating its terms of service, but everyone knows it did so as part of the left’s ongoing effort to cancel conservative voices. And by instantly preventing millions of conservative voices from communicating, Apple proved that it is one of the biggest bullies around.”

“Do you know what other voices Apple has silenced?” Danhof asked. “Those of the Hong Kong freedom fighters. At the height of the Hong Kong protests, Apple removed an app that the freedom fighters were using to communicate. In America, Apple works to do the bidding of the political left. In China, it does the bidding of the Chinese Communist Party. In 2021, this is increasingly a distinction without a difference.”

The Daily Caller adds that interim Parler CEO Mark Meckler says that discussions with Apple are “ongoing,” and “I do expect they’re going to be happy with what we’re doing.” But the Left’s war against the platform shows no signs of slowing down, from death threats against Meckler’s predecessor John Matze, to a private citizen being fired by Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency for creating Parler and Gab accounts.