Amazon is asking a judge to keep the social media platform Parler offline, citing a series of death threats against top technology executives and elected officials posted on the site before Capitol’s deadly uprising last week, according to a lawsuit. Tuesday’s court case.
Parler sued Amazon on Monday, alleging that Amazon Web Services (AWS) violated antitrust law and violated the companies’ contractual agreement when the technology giant removed the platform that is popular with conservatives because of its direct approach to moderation of content.
Amazon’s lawyers defended the company’s action on Tuesday, saying that Parler demonstrated “unwillingness and inability” to remove content that “threatens public security, for example, by inciting and planning rapes, tortures and murders of public officials and private individuals. “
The lawsuit continued to say that Amazon “Repeatedly” notified Parler that its content violated the parties’ agreement and requested removal, “only to determine that Parler did not and could not do so.”
Amazon said Parler’s suspension is a “last resort to prevent further access to that content”, including plans for violence around the president-elect Joe Biden
Joe Biden A growing number of Republican lawmakers say they support impeachment. House approves measure asking Pence to remove Trump Disney, Walmart says they will block donations to lawmakers who opposed Electoral College resultsopening on January 20.
Parler saw an increase in popularity after the November 3 presidential election, with disinformation spreading widely across the platform. The app saw another sudden increase after the Capitol riot, with around 825,000 installations from Apple and Google stores between January 6 and 10, an increase of more than 1,000 percent over the same period last week, according to data from SensorTower.
Amazon’s lawyers said the company has notified Parler’s policy director about more than 100 content that advocates violence on the platform since mid-November.
Examples cited in the lawsuit included death threats, often aimed at technology executives and Democratic lawmakers, as well as posts naming Democrats as a spokesperson. Nancy Pelosi
Nancy PelosiHouse approves measure asking Pence to remove Trump Trump told Pence that he could be a ‘patriot’ or ‘p —-‘ when overseeing the electoral vote: Pelosi report names 9 impeachment managers MORE (California), Senate minority leader Charles Schumer
Chuck SchumerWoman interrupts Schumer’s press conference, calls him ‘racist anti-Semite’ Night energy: EPA rule exempts many polluting industries from future air regulations | Former Michigan Governor to be Accused of Flint Water Crisis, Report Says | Dismissed White House officials after documents casting doubts about climate science that the Senate will be informed about security of tenure after attacking the Capitol. MORE (NY) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Alexandria Ocasio-CortezEarmarks can lead to legislation, which can lead to healing. (NEW YORK).
Other posts were directed to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Elliot ZuckerbergTrump hits social media companies after banning their accounts. Facebook tells employees not to wear company t-shirts in public: report that Facebook says it is now removing content with the phrase ‘Stop stealing’ MORE and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, with death threats, according to the court case.
A spokesman for Parler was not immediately available for comment.
After last week’s deadly turmoil on Capitol, technology companies took steps to remove and restrict content that could incite further violence.
Trump supporters and right-wing extremists used platforms like Parler, as well as some conventional social media sites, to organize themselves before the crowd attacked the Capitol. On some marginal sites, extremists are posting about potentially violent demonstrations this weekend and the day of the inauguration.
Major social media sites have also taken steps to limit Trump’s presence on their platforms. Facebook banned Trump indefinitely until at least Biden took office, and Twitter permanently banned the president’s account. YouTube said it would temporarily suspend the president due to the “continued potential for violence”.