Parler CEO John Matze argues that Amazon, Apple and Google’s suspension of the social media platform is “an excellent example” of antitrust.
The alternative social media platform Parler crashed on Monday morning after Amazon Web Services’ decision to suspend Parler from its cloud hosting service following Wednesday’s US Capitol riot.
CEO John Matze told users to “wait and come back” as the company finds out how to move forward during an interview on “Mornings with Maria” on Monday.
APPLE AND GOOGLE SUSPEND PARLER FROM ITS APP STORES
“Everyone must wait and come back,” said Matze. “We may have to go as far as buying and building our own data centers and buying our own servers if we need to go back to the internet, you know, but there is a risk involved in that, given what the vendors are doing, the extent to which they are going to get rid of of us. “
“It will be devastating for our business, our model, our potential to raise future capital,” he continued. “This can happen to any company, at any time.”
Google suspended Parler from its app store on Friday due to a failure to moderate “shocking content” posted by users related to the violent siege of Capitol Hill last week.
Parler is facing criticism over Wednesday’s riot that saw supporters of President Trump storming the U.S. Capitol, attacking the police, vandalizing the building and stealing items from inside.
Screenshots taken from Parler and shared on other social media platforms appear to show Parler users openly discussing plans for violence at the rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol, including bringing in weapons and imagining how they would use them against their political opponents.
“No one has submitted any reliable information or evidence that, you know, there is any problem with Parler that does not exist on other platforms,” said Matze on Monday. “This is really a double standard. … We see all kinds of threatening content on Twitter, much more actually, in our opinion, and, in fact, a lot of content that was deleted from Parler still remains on Twitter to this day on form of screenshots. So, I don’t understand, you know, what it really is about. Because it’s not about holding everyone equally accountable. It’s about giving preferential treatment to certain people. “
Amazon says the move was made for violating Amazon Web Services terms of service for failing to effectively deal with a steady increase in violent content, according to an email from an AWS trust and security team to Parler, seen by Reuters.
An Amazon spokesman confirmed that the letter was authentic.
This illustration shows the logo of Parler’s social media application displayed on a smartphone with its website in the background in Arlington, Virginia, on July 2, 2020. (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY / AFP via Getty Images) (OLIVIER DOULIERY / AFP via Getty Images)
Like Google, Apple suspended Parler from its App Store, even when it reached number one in the free apps section earlier in the day.
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“If it goes against our terms of service, we remove it. Frankly, I’m not interested in seeing our platform or any other platform used as a tool for violence and the spread of violence … but Amazon, Apple and Google don’t care,” he said. Matze on Monday. “They are using this as an opportunity to crush the first real competitor in this space in so many years. It shows that we can contest the market. When they realize that the markets are contestable, they crush the competition. If there is an antitrust case, I I think this is an excellent example that the first real tangible competitor was crushed so quickly, in a blatant way. “
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Meanwhile, Gab, another entry-level social media platform, welcomed users of Matze and Parler while the site was down.
“We welcome John Matze, Dan Bongino and everyone at Parler to speak freely at Gab as they work to bring the platform back online,” wrote Gab in his official Twitter account.
Fox Business Talia Kaplan, Audrey Conklin, James Leggate and Brittany De Lea contributed to this report.