Former head and co-founder of the social network Parler, John Matze (John Matze) has filed a lawsuit against the company and the new leaders of the platform. He accuses them of fraud and “stealing” his 40 percent stake after the storming of the Capitol. Protocol writes about it.

The lawsuit describes the events that took place after the January riots in the United States. Matze claims that when the social network was removed from the App Store and Play Market, and AWS refused to provide servers for work, he proposed updating the platform rules. This was intended to preserve freedom of expression and prevent the dissemination of content that incites violence. The complaint claims that the initiative was met with “deathly silence.”

“Parler is now being hijacked to promote the political and personal interests of the defendants, rather than serving as a platform for expressing the thoughts and views of users, as originally intended.”, – asserted in the claim.

The plaintiff also claims that he was fired for no reason. In addition, the company valued his 40 percent stake at just $ 3.

Among the defendants in the lawsuit are the new CEO of the platform, Mark Meckler, the head of the board of directors Rebekah Mercer, investor Jeffrey Wernick and several others. Matze accuses them of a range of violations, including breach of contract and defamation.

Matze stepped down as CEO of Parler in early February. In a conversation with Reuters, he said that the decision to dismiss was made by the board of directors headed by Mercer. Less than two weeks later, the companies appointed a new CEO. It was the head of the Tea Party Patriots movement Mark Meckler.