Last Updated on January 11, 2021
Parler is suing Amazon over it’s recent removal from their web servers, which forced the site offline early Monday morning.
Parler, one of the alternate microblogging platforms that sprung up in opposition to censorship by Twitter, had its contract terminated by Amazon Web Services (AWS) for allegedly allowing violent posts relating to the storming of the Capitol by supporters of President Trump. The servers for Parler went offline shortly after midnight Pacific Time on Monday, pulling the whole site down.
As a result of the action by AWS, Parler is suing AWS for “breaching its contract with Parler, which requires AWS to provide Parler with a thirty-day notice before terminating service, rather than the less than thirty-hour notice AWS actually provided.”
The lawsuit notes that “AWS’s decision to effectively terminate Parler’s account is apparently motivated by political animus,” along with also being designed “to reduce competition in the microblogging services market to the benefit of Twitter. Thus, AWS is violating Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act in combination with [Twitter].”
BREAKING: Parler sues Amazon for antitrust violation, breach of contract and unlawful business interference. Asks federal judge to order Amazon to reinstate the platform
— John Kruzel (@johnkruzel) January 11, 2021
The lawsuit noted that Parler received a 355% increase in installs of its app following the removal of President Trump from Twitter on Friday. “Given the context of Parler’s looming threat to Twitter and the fact that the Twitter ban might not long muzzle the President if he switched to Parler, potentially bringing tens of millions of followers with him, AWS moved to shut down Parler,” the lawsuit argues.
READ MORE: Trump Reveals He’s “Negotiating with Various Other Sites” After Twitter Ban
Shutting down Parler “at the very time it is set to skyrocket” would completely kill the business, the lawsuit reads:
Both the apps and the website are written to work with AWS’s technology. To have to switch to a different service provider would require rewriting that code, meaning Parler will be offline for a financially devastating period… The death blow by AWS could not come at a worse time for Parler – a time when the company is surging with the potential of even more explosive growth in the next few days. Worse than the timing is the result – Parler has tried to find alternative companies to host it and they have fallen through. It has no other options. Without AWS, Parler is finished as it has no way to get online…
An article by Buzzfeed contained an email from an AWS representative to Parler Chief Policy Officer Amy Peikoff, claiming that Amazon could not host the platform due to “a steady increase in… violent content on your website, all of which violates” their terms of service.”
However, the lawsuit reveals that the story containing the email from AWS was posted to Buzzfeed an hour before it was actually received by Peikoff or anybody else on the Parler team. The lawsuit also notes that “the allegations contained in the letter it leaked to the press was not able to find and remove content that encouraged violence was false,” as Parler removed all the content AWS asked them to.
“AWS sought to defame Parler nonetheless,” the lawsuit said. “AWS’s false claims have made Parler a pariah.” The supposed violent content posted on Parler, that the site swiftly removed, was nothing compared to what is posted on Twitter by the left every day. On the same day that AWS took action against Parler, “Hang Mike Pence” trended number 1 on Twitter. “AWS has no plans… to suspend Twitter’s account,” the lawsuit notes.
You can read the full lawsuit below:
gov.uscourts.wawd.294664.1.0
