Amazon Defends Parler Ban by Citing Unremoved Violent Threats
Amazon states it drops Parler from its cloud hosting service only after flagging over one hundred violent posts that the social network fails to remove. The tech giant rejects Parler's antitrust claims in a recent court filing.
Amazon defends its decision to drop Parler from its web hosting service in a new court filing, stating the social media app violates its contract. The tech giant reports that it flags dozens of violent posts to Parler starting in November and ultimately removes the app as a last resort. Amazon insists this action is not about suppressing speech but about addressing Parler's inability to remove dangerous content from its servers.
The conflict follows Amazon Web Services pulling the plug on Parler, a platform popular with supporters of President Donald Trump, after the deadly U.S. Capitol riot. Parler responds by suing Amazon for breach of contract and antitrust violations, while asking the court for a temporary restraining order to force AWS to restore its account. Amazon argues in its response that keeping Parler offline prevents further harm to the public.
Amazon rebuffs the antitrust accusations by citing Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields tech companies from liability over user posts. Over a seven-week period, Amazon reports more than 100 pieces of violent content to Parler, including specific death threats against members of Congress and tech executives. The company maintains that Parler's failure to moderate these threats justifies the suspension of its cloud hosting services.