Parler Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Amazon Over Shutdown

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Parler filed an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon Web Services, hours after the site went offline when AWS pulled the plug on its servers. Amazon told the social media company it was dropping them for violating its terms of service by refusing to do enough to police and remove violent speech from the site.

Parler is seeking a temporary restraining order against Amazon, saying the tech giant's decision is a "death blow" to the company akin to "pulling the plug on a hospital patient on life support."

"Without AWS, Parler is finished as it has no way to get online," the lawsuit states. "And a delay of granting this TRO by even one day could also sound Parler's death knell as President Trump and others move on to other platforms."

Parler claims that Amazon's decision was meant to help Twitter, which is also an AWS customer, by eliminating a source of competition "at the very time it is set to skyrocket."

Last week, Amazon informed Parler it was terminating its contract for not doing enough to moderate and remove violent speech made by users. Amazon cited 98 posts made in recent weeks that were not removed even though they "clearly encourage and incite violence."

Amazon pulled the plug on Parler's at 11:59 p.m. PT on Sunday (January 10) remains down as of Monday afternoon. The company said that efforts to find another hosting provider have "fallen through," leaving the company unable to gain new customers or keep those who have already signed up.

"If Parler is not available, people will turn to alternatives, or perhaps return to Twitter or Facebook," the complaint reads. "And once those users have begun to use another platform, they may not return to Parler once it's back online."

Photo: Getty Images


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