Amazon pulls the plug on Parler, social network favoured by Trump supporters, over posts ‘inciting violence’
3 min readAmazon has suspended right-wing social network Parler from its web hosting services over the platform’s failure to moderate calls for violence, consigning the site to being taken offline permanently if it fails to find a new host.
Hundreds of thousands of new users flocked to the free speech Twitter-style network in the wake of Twitter’s decision to permanently ban US President Donald Trump following the US Capitol riots that caused the death of five people.
However, this weekend both Apple and Google announced the app’s suspension from their respective app stores, citing Parler’s failure to police posts that incite violence and lawless action, making the app unavailable to download.
Amazon has since chosen to cut ties with Parler entirely, while Apple and Google’s bans will remain in place until it resolves the issues that violate their policies.
Race to find a new provider
Parler chief executive John Matze claimed the platform could be offline for up to a week as it attempted to rebuild away from Amazon Web Services (AWS), which is turning off Parler’s servers at midnight on Sunday Pacific Time (7.59am GMT on Monday).
AWS is the world’s largest cloud provider, hosting the websites of major businesses including Netflix, Pinterest and Slack and making it responsible for keeping much of the internet running.
Amazon told Parler in an email seen by BuzzFeed News that it had contacted the site several weeks previously with concerns over 98 posts that “clearly encourage and incite violence”.
“Recently, we’ve seen a steady increase in this violent content on your website, all of which violates our terms. It’s clear that Parler does not have an effective process to comply with the AWS terms of service,” the email read.
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“We cannot provide services to a customer that is unable to effectively identify and remove content that encourages or incites violence against others.”
App stores highlight failings in safeguarding against violence
Apple’s app review board said it had found multiple examples of direct threats of violence and calls to incite lawless action on Parler.
“We have always supported diverse points of view being represented on the App Store, but there is no place on our platform for threats of violence and illegal activity,” the company said in a statement on Saturday.
“Parler has not taken adequate measures to address the proliferation of these threats to people’s safety. We have suspended Parler from the App Store until they resolve these issues.”
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Google said it was aware of continued posting in the app seeking to incite ongoing violence in the US, despite its marketplace Google Play’s rules that apps hosting user-generated content were required to have moderation polices to remove such content.
“All developers agree to these terms and we have reminded Parler of this clear policy in recent months,” a Google spokesperson said.
“We’re aware of continued posting in the Parler app that seeks to incite ongoing violence in the US”.
‘Coordinated effort’ from Big Tech
Mr Matze said Parler was trying its best to find a new web provider, saying it had “many competing for our business”.
He said Amazon’s decision was an attempt to “completely remove free speech off the internet,” adding that the combination of Google and Apple’s temporary restriction amounted to a “coordinated effort knowing our options would be limited and knowing this would inflict the most damage right as President Trump was banned from the tech companies”.
