The Parler logo is displayed on a smartphone with the Google, Amazon and Apple logos displayed on the PC screen on the back. Google, Apple and Amazon have shut down the Parler social networking app.
Pavlo Gonchar | LightRocket | Getty Images
Amazon defended its decision to drop Parler from their web hosting service in response to a lawsuit filed by the social media app earlier in the week.
In court films late Tuesday, Amazon said it fired dozens of pieces of violent content into the social media app starting in November. The company argued that Parler breached its contract with Amazon’s cloud computing unit, Amazon Web Services (AWS), when it failed to remove the content and AWS suspended Parler’s account. “as a last resort.”
“This issue is not about stifling speech or blocking comments,” Amazon wrote in response to Parler. “It’s not about conspiracy to stop trading. Instead, this issue is about Parler’s reluctance and inability to remove security-threatening AWS servers. the public, such as inciting and planning rape, torture, and named public assassination. officers and private citizens. “
Amazon pulled the plug on Parler, a social media app popular with Trump supporters, last week following the deadly U.S. Capitol riot. Parler filed a lawsuit against Amazon Monday, accusing Amazon of violating its contract and violating trust laws. Parler also asked the court for a temporary restraining order to force AWS to reinstate their account.
In its response to Parler’s lawsuit, Amazon argued that it was likely to renew Parler’s web service to the public, outweighing “any speculative damage that Parler says it may suffer” from his site to be offline.
He also opposed Parler’s claim that AWS violated trust laws by refusing service. He cited Section 230 of the Communications Misconduct Act, Silicon Valley’s preferred law and, increasingly, under the influence of lawyers, which protects tech companies from being held accountable for what consumers do. posted on their platforms.
Amazon said it began reporting content in violation of its terms of service to Parler on Nov. 17 last year. Over the next seven weeks, Amazon said it reported more than 100 additional pieces of content claiming violence.
Amazon included some examples of that content in demonstrations filed alongside its lawsuit, which include death threats against members of Congress, company officials technicians like Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, as well as U.S. Capitol Police, among others. In some Parler posts, users threatened to burn “Amazon delivery trucks” and Apple stores, as well as “grab Amazon servers.”
“We should gather peacefully outside of those tech homes and businesses, then protest peacefully and calmly burn and burn them,” read one Parler post, according to the court filing.
Amazon said content sparked violence following the violence at the U.S. Capitol by some Trump supporters Wednesday, which left five dead. In the aftermath of the riots, politicians and the public have called on social media companies such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to more closely model their platforms, in order to prevent violence.
Amazon held calls with Parler officials in the wake of the riots in which it raised concerns about Parler’s ineffective evaluation strategies, which included relying on volunteers to report content. Parler CEO John Matze noted on one of those calls that there was a backlog of 26,000 reports on the site that went against his policies and were still up on the site, the seed states.
“Parler’s own failure left AWS with little choice but to cancel Parler’s account,” Amazon said in the filter.
Parler did not respond to a request for comment. Amazon previously said there was “no value” to the claims described in Parler’s lawsuit.