- Parler, the far-right social media platform, is suing Amazon for antitrust violations after Amazon banned the site from using its AWS service for not moderating threats of violence more efficiently.
- Amazon claims that Parler does not efficiently police threats of violence on its platform, but the lawsuit alleges that Amazon’s decision is politically motivated and anti-competitive, as it has not taken similar measures against Twitter, which also used AWS .
- Parler calls himself committed to freedom of expression and has little policy of moderation. He became the favorite of many on the right, including Trump supporters and Senator Ted Cruz.
- The lawsuit comes after pro-Trump protesters invaded the U.S. Capitol and many consider the role that technology companies play in providing platforms for those seeking to incite violence.
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Parler, the far-right social media service, is suing Amazon for antitrust violations, according to a lawsuit filed on Monday.
The move comes after Amazon removed Parler from its cloud hosting service, after Parler failed to moderate threats of violence after last week’s deadly siege of the United States Capitol.
Parler claims that Amazon’s decision was politically motivated and violates a contract between the two companies that involves Amazon’s cloud hosting service to support posts published in Parler. In accordance with the process, AWS must provide Parler with a 30-day notice before terminating service.
He also claims that Amazon’s action is anti-competitive, as it has not taken any similar action against Parler’s rival Twitter, which also uses AWS.
The lawsuit claims that “AWS ‘decision to effectively close Parler’s account is apparently motivated by political animosity. Apparently, it was also created to reduce competition in the microblogging market for the benefit of Twitter.”
The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order against AWS to prevent the service from closing Parler’s account later in the day.
Amazon did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
After pro-Trump protesters stormed the federal building while lawmakers worked to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, Congress confirmed President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. Trump posted tweets during and after the siege in which he continued to spread more electoral disinformation, prompting Twitter and Facebook to make unprecedented decisions to permanently suspend Trump from their platforms.
Those on the right have long accused names like Twitter of discriminating against conservatives by adding warning labels to their posts, and that belief has been fueled by events that have occurred since last week.
Since Trump was launched, smaller far-right social networks like Parler and Gab have grown in popularity – Parler has jumped to number one in the Apple app store, and Gab said it is gaining 10,000 new users every hour.
Since then, Apple and Google have banned these sites because of hate speech violations, and Parler has been offline for possibly up to a week after AWS closes.