SAN FRANCISCO, United States – Amazon will suspend Parler, the tech giant confirmed on Saturday, sending the social media network offline after being banned by Apple and Google for allowing “threats of violence” after a deadly riot on U.S. Capitol Hill. .
The social network Parler has become a haven for conservatives who claim to have been censored by other social media platforms.
It has grown in popularity in recent months, becoming the # 1 free app on the Apple App Store on Saturday, after Twitter, much bigger, decided to permanently ban US President Trump from his platform for his role in inciting violence in the Capitol.
Messages of support for Wednesday’s rioters, along with requests for new demonstrations, blossomed on the platform, prompting Google to remove it from its app store on Friday, followed by Apple on Saturday.
Amazon then proceeded to clean it from its cloud that hosted Amazon Web Services, taking it completely offline.
In a letter to Parler first published by Buzzfeed, Amazon said the network was not acting quickly enough against the violent content on the platform.
“We saw a steady increase in this violent content on their website, which violates our terms of service,” said the letter, whose content was confirmed to AFP by Amazon.
Given the Capitol riot this week, the letter continued, there was “a serious risk that this type of content will further incite violence”.
The account will be suspended shortly before midnight Pacific Standard Time on Sunday (Monday, 0759 GMT).
Since the group hosts Parler’s data on its cloud service, this should prevent it from functioning, at least temporarily.
THREATS OF VIOLENCE
Parler founder John Matz confirmed in his profile that there was a possibility that the network would be unavailable “for up to a week” while looking for a new host.
“We will try our best to switch to a new supplier now,” he said.
Amazon’s decision has a much broader impact than the actions of Google and Apple.
They made it difficult to download the Parler app, but users can still access it if they’ve already downloaded it or if they’re using an Internet browser.
“We always support a variety of views represented on the App Store, but there is no place on our platform for threats of violence and illegal activities,” Apple said in a statement on Saturday.
“Parler has not taken adequate measures to deal with the proliferation of these threats to people’s security. We have suspended Parler from the App Store until they resolve these problems.”
Google removed Parler from its app store for allowing “blatant content” that could incite deadly violence like the one seen on Capitol Hill.
Angry Trump supporters broke into the building on Wednesday as lawmakers gathered to certify Joe Biden’s victory in the November 3 elections, leaving five people – including a police officer – dead.
Other mainstream social media networks like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitch also suspended Trump after the attack on the Capitol.
Matze said the platform has “many options” to move forward.
Parler started in 2018 and was initially a home for the far right, but now attracts more traditional conservative voices, including Republican lawmakers.
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