Parler Goes Offline After Amazon Web Services Pulls Cloud Hosting
Alternative social media platform Parler goes dark after Amazon suspends its cloud hosting, leaving CEO John Matze scrambling to find new infrastructure.
Alternative social media platform Parler goes completely offline after Amazon Web Services suspends the site from its cloud hosting platform. This shutdown follows the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol, as major tech companies take aggressive steps to remove Parler from the internet. CEO John Matze asks users to hold on while the company attempts to navigate the sudden loss of its core digital infrastructure.
The removal proves devastating to Parler's business model and its ability to raise future capital, according to Matze. He warns that this level of vendor intervention poses a massive risk to any company operating online. To survive, Matze says Parler may have to purchase and build its own data centers and servers, though he acknowledges the immense difficulty of that task under current circumstances.
Parler faces intense criticism over user posts that allegedly discuss plans for violence at the Capitol rally, prompting both Google and Apple to previously ban the app from their stores. Matze strongly defends his platform by accusing big tech of applying a blatant double standard. He argues that similar or worse threatening content remains on Twitter, making the coordinated crackdown against Parler feel like targeted preferential treatment rather than a fair enforcement of rules.