Photographer: Gabby Jones / Bloomberg
Photographer: Gabby Jones / Bloomberg
The executive director of Parler LLC says it hid after receiving death threats.
John Matze Jr.’s social media platform was briefly the new home for Donald Trump’s conservative supporters, who flocked to it after Twitter banned the president. But Parler deleted it on Sunday after Apple Inc. and Google removed it from their app stores and Amazon.com Inc. has canceled its web hosting service, citing violent content that the e-commerce giant says contributed to the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill.
“Many Parler employees are experiencing harassment and hostility, fear for their safety and that of their families and, in some cases, have fled their home state to escape persecution,” said Matze’s lawyer in Parler’s lawsuit aimed at forcing Amazon Network Services to bring the platform back online. Matze had to “hide with his family after receiving death threats and invasive breaches of personal security”. The CEO did not specify the source of the threats, but his lawyer said in a filing that Matze’s covert action was necessary because he was singled out “while the AWS CEO continues to defame”.
Matze’s move comes after Amazon earlier this week said its employees were also threatened – by Parler users. “Both sides of this dispute showed that their employees suffered harassment and real threats – including, on both sides, death threats – due to the nature of this dispute,” according to the Parler lawsuit, previously reported by Fox News.
Read more: Parler fails to get quick relief from tech-savvy lawyer