The free speech app Parler – a social media platform favored by conservatives and supporters of President Donald Trump – said on Thursday that, although it was “disappointed” by a federal judge’s refusal to order Amazon to reinstate its service, was confident in his chances of winning the case.
In a statement about the decision, a spokesman for Parler told Fox News that the company is “gratified” that the court has not blindly accepted Amazon’s argument that the platform was used to plan and carry out the Jan. 6 siege. at the Capitol
“Based on the evidence that we are aware of, the Parler platform was not used in this way – although competing platforms were clearly used for this purpose,” said the spokesman. “We are grateful that the court has refused to join the dishonest attempt to make Parler the scapegoat for the riot.”
The spokesman added that every social media platform sometimes unknowingly hosts content that incites violence or inappropriate action, but cited an internal analysis that apparently shows that the incidence of such inflammatory material is “much lower than on competing platforms. “.
An Amazon spokesman said the case is not about freedom of expression, but about a customer who violated his terms of service “by allowing content to be posted on his website that actively encouraged violence (and without an effective plan for moderate it). “
“We welcome the court’s careful decision,” an Amazon spokesman said in a statement.
LAWMAKERS SINGLE OUT PARLER IN CALL FOR ‘ROBUST’ FBI PROBE IN CAPITOL HILL RIOT
A United States District Court in Seattle on Thursday denied Parler’s request for an emergency injunction against Amazon while the larger complaint is considered, which would have restored the site’s service.
The judge said Parler had failed to demonstrate that the public interest would be better served by granting the injunction, although she added that she was “not rejecting Parler’s substantive claims at this time”.
Google and Apple removed Parler from their app stores shortly after the siege of the Capitol for their failure to moderate “shocking content”, including violent threats made to the lives of lawmakers and the intention to bring weapons into the Jan. 6 riot. .
Shortly after, Amazon announced that it would no longer host Parler on Amazon Web Services, effectively taking it completely offline.
The Seattle tech giant said Parler had shown “unwillingness and inability” to remove a series of dangerous messages calling for rape, torture and murder of politicians, technology executives and many others.
The social media app filed a lawsuit to go back online, arguing that Amazon had breached its contract and abused its market power.
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Also on Thursday, the Chair of the House’s Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, DN.Y., sent a request to FBI Director Christopher Wray asking him to initiate a “robust” and “comprehensive” investigation. about Parler’s role in the siege.
In a statement about the FBI investigation, a spokesman for Parler said the company will continue to cooperate with law enforcement efforts.
Parler, which was founded in 2018, was “built on a basis of respect for privacy and personal data, freedom of expression, free market and ethical and transparent corporate policy”.
Some conservatives – like Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rand Paul, R-Ky. – started to turn to the platform this year after being frustrated with the moderation of content on the main platforms.
The platform, however, has also become popular with conspiracy theorists and elements of the far right.
Brian Flood of Fox News and The Associated Press contributed to this report.