Amazon Web Services disputed Parler’s allegations in a lawsuit alleging Amazon violated antitrust law, breached the companies’ contract, and was motivated by a political bias.
The anti-Big Tech social media app Parler filed a lawsuit against Amazon in a Seattle-based federal court saying that Amazon’s decision to take the platform off its servers was equivalent to “pulling the plug” on its business.
Parler alleged that Amazon’s decision would benefit Twitter and claimed that the crackdown was “apparently designed to reduce competition in the microblogging services market to the benefit of Twitter.”
AWS told The Washington Times that it raised concerns with Parler “over a number of weeks” and saw a “significant increase” in dangerous content leading up to its decision to end services for Parler on Sunday evening.
“There is no merit to these claims,” said an AWS spokesperson in a statement. “AWS provides technology and services to customers across the political spectrum, and we respect Parler’s right to determine for itself what content it will allow. However, it is clear that there is significant content on Parler that encourages and incites violence against others, and that Parler is unable or unwilling to promptly identify and remove this content, which is a violation of our terms of service.”
Parler’s lawsuit seeks an emergency temporary restraining order against Amazon in order to stay online. Amazon previously told the federal court it would respond to the lawsuit on Tuesday, as it had not been served by Parler before the lawsuit was filed.
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.