Alternative Social Apps & Messengers Surge After Riots

Following restrictions placed on prominent figures from major social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, and the subsequent removal of Parler from both the Apple App Store and Google Play, alternative social media applications—including MeWe and CloutHub—are experiencing a surge in popularity and climbing the app store rankings. Data indicates a significant increase in downloads for social networks emphasizing free speech in the days following Parler’s removal.

MeWe, a next-generation social network initially launched as a beta in May 2012 and officially released in 2016, is among those witnessing the most substantial growth in new installations.

The application has demonstrated consistent growth since the U.S. presidential election, coinciding with increased content moderation efforts on larger platforms like Facebook and Twitter. These mainstream social networks implemented and created new policies to regulate content shared by Donald Trump and his supporters—including unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud that have not been validated by U.S. courts, despite numerous legal challenges.

According to data from Apptopia, MeWe has accumulated over 16 million lifetime installs globally. However, since last Wednesday, the app has been downloaded almost 200,000 times worldwide, with the majority of these new downloads originating from users in the United States, totaling nearly 143,000 installs.

A considerable portion of these users migrated to MeWe after Parler was removed from app stores. Apple removed Parler late on Saturday, and MeWe’s ranking subsequently improved. From Saturday to Sunday alone, MeWe gained over 110,200 new installs within the U.S.

The company reports having gained 1 million new members in the last 72 hours and is currently adding more than 20,000 new members each hour.

Because app store Top Charts consider both total downloads and the rate of new installs, MeWe has quickly risen in the rankings due to these recent trends.

As of Sunday, MeWe held the No. 7 position in the U.S. App Store’s Top Overall free charts and is continuing to climb.

This represents considerable expansion for the alternative social app, considering it was not ranked on the App Store’s Top Charts as recently as October. (An unranked app is positioned below No. 1,500, making its ranking difficult to track.) However, MeWe did appear on the charts within the Social Networking category during this period.

CloutHub, a relatively new application, is also benefiting from recent events, including the ban of Parler.

Launched in January 2019, the app positions itself as a social network for “social, civic, and political networking” with a focus on free speech. Its website states its goal is to provide “everyone a platform to have their voice heard.”

To date, CloutHub has seen a total of 255,000 lifetime installs, with over 31,000 of those occurring in the past week—specifically, since Wednesday. (CloutHub may be experiencing difficulties with the influx of new users, as sign-ups and logins are frequently timing out.) The app currently ranks No. 11 on the U.S. App Store.

Two other applications have seen increased visibility due to cases of mistaken identity.

As reported by Mashable, an app named “Parlor” is being confused with the banned “Parler” app. Sensor Tower data indicates that “Parlor” received as many as 40,000 downloads in December alone.

Apptopia reports that the social chat app, founded in May 2011, has accumulated 8.6 million lifetime global installs. However, from Wednesday through Sunday, it gained 115,846 new users—many of whom were likely searching for “Parler.” Of these, over 99,220 arrived on either Saturday or Sunday, coinciding with the rollout of the Parler ban. Users may have discovered “Parlor” by searching for an alternative spelling even before Apple took action against Parler.

As of Sunday, “Parlor” reached the No. 4 position on the U.S. App Store’s Top Overall iOS charts.

Meanwhile, an app called “Gab News”—which is actually a local news app for the Georgetown area—is also gaining traction, as it is being mistaken for the previously banned app “Gab,” which former Parler users are suggesting as an alternative. Apple declined to host Gab in 2016, citing its pornographic content and later, due to policies against hosting apps containing hate speech. While Gab was briefly available on Google Play in 2017, it was subsequently removed for similar reasons.

“Gab News,” however, is currently ranked No. 44 on the App Store’s Top Free Apps Chart in the U.S. (Download data was not immediately available.)

Rumble, a conservative alternative to YouTube, is also experiencing growth. The app has gained 2.4 million total global installs since its January 2020 launch, according to Apptopia’s estimates. Since Wednesday, this included 91,916 new downloads, with over 73,700 originating from the U.S. It has also climbed to No. 78 on the U.S. App Store, up from No. 1,484 on December 19, 2020.

It is important to note that the Parler ban is not the sole driver of these shifts.

A broader backlash against big tech is also underway, with many individuals on both sides of the political spectrum believing these companies have become excessively powerful.

Governments worldwide have been examining the business models and practices of companies like Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook over the past year, with potential antitrust action under consideration. Facebook and Google are also facing scrutiny from users regarding their privacy practices—particularly as Apple now requires companies to disclose how they utilize user data through privacy labels.

Consequently, some individuals are turning to alternative networking apps not only due to their conservative leanings but also because of their emphasis on privacy. (Some privacy-conscious consumers recently became aware of WhatsApp’s data-sharing practices through a notification, though these concerns are not new.) This broader shift towards private platforms, combined with recent events, is driving growth in encrypted messaging apps like Signal and Telegram, as well as the privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo, an alternative to Google.com.

These apps have also gained momentum over the past week. Signal is now No. 1 on the U.S. App Store, Telegram is No. 2, and DuckDuckGo is No. 8. This is a rapid increase in ranking. Around mid-October 2020, these apps were ranked No. 618, 79, and 715, respectively, according to Apptopia. DuckDuckGo also reported 62% year-over-year growth between 2019 and 2020 and has become the No. 2 search engine in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia.

It is also worth considering that some users may be seeking private messaging platforms in the aftermath of the U.S. Capitol riots, as the FBI has begun arresting those involved. Signal has gained nearly 325,000 new installs since Thursday, and Telegram has gained over 330,600.

This rapid shift to alternative social and messaging networks highlights the challenges app stores may face in enforcing their policies in the coming weeks. While platforms typically address apps hosting hate speech or inciting violence, their response often lags behind the public’s adoption of new alternatives.

In the meantime, the apps that gain popularity may struggle with content moderation. Instances of extreme hate speech and calls for assassination have already been observed on MeWe, despite the company’s stated commitment to investigating and removing such content, as outlined in its Terms of Service.

The future of these free speech, alternative apps remains uncertain, as platform providers like Amazon (AWS) are now also declining to host them, and payment processors, like Stripe, which recently severed ties with the Trump campaign, may refuse to process future online payments. This could force these networks to seek private funding to build their own infrastructure and remain operational, as well as explore alternative distribution methods, such as the web or sideloading, to reach their users.