Yahoo Finance Frank plagued by launch issues as Parler returns to Apple app store
US President Donald Trump listens as Michael J. Lindell, CEO of MyPillow Inc., speaks during the daily briefing on the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, on March 30, 2020.
(Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)The launch of Mike Lindell’s new social media site Frank was hit with a cyberattack on its first day that prevented users from signing up.
The MyPillow CEO posted a video on the site saying that users would be able to sign up for it “sometime today” after it was plagued with technical difficulties.
As soon as the site launched on Monday morning it showed a “502 error”, followed quickly by the site showing a “500 internal server error.”
After that the site could not be accessed and Mr Lindell then posted on Parler that the Frank website was “having a massive attack against it currently.”
“We are working to get it up ASAP! Thank you for your patience,” he wrote.
Mr Lindell has not provided any details about the nature of the attack on the website and users can still not sign up for accounts.
The pro-Trump businessman, who has bizarrely claimed that the ex-president could be back in the White House by August, has said that the “free speech” site will limit swearing and taking “God’s name in vain.”
He has also said that Frank will limit threats of violence made on the platform.
The launch issues for Frank came on the sameday that it was announced that controversial social media site Parler will be allowed to return to Apple’s iPhone App Store.
Apple removed it in January after it was used to organise and promote the attack on the US Capitol by Donald Trump’s supporters.
In a letter to Congress the tech giant said it had reviewed changes made by Parler and would approve its use.
Before the launch of Frank, Mr Lindell said he had spent millions of dollars on the website’s security as he expected it to be targeted in a cyberattack.
“We’re going to be attacked, but I have my own servers and everything,” he said.
“We’re not going to be worried about Amazon taking it down, or YouTube, or Google, or Apple.”
The Independent has reached out to Mr Lindell for comment.
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