San Francisco, United States.
Parler, the favorite social network of Donald Trump supporters, sued Amazon on Monday for driving the network off the internet by blocking access to its servers because it allowed violent messages to spread after the attack on the US Capitol.
Amazon said it had suspended Parler’s account at 8 a.m. GMT on Monday and explained in a letter to that social network that it had observed a “sustained increase in violent content.”
But Parler insisted that decision is based on political reasons and to reduce competition in favor of Twitter. In addition, he blamed Amazon for failing to notify him 30 days in advance that he would discontinue his services.
Parler then asked the court to stop Amazon from blocking its servers.
Apple and Google had already removed it from their download platforms due to the proliferation of “threats of violence” and “illegal activities”. Both argued that Parler has a very lax content moderation policy.
“Parler is unable or unwilling to quickly identify and remove such content,” Amazon said in a message to AFP.
Parler defies Amazon’s rules and, as a result, his demand is “unjustified,” the company added, stressing that it “wants to serve customers of all political beliefs.
Parler’s popularity soared after Twitter permanently shut down Trump’s account on Friday. On Saturday, Parler’s app was the most downloaded app at Apple in the United States.
Parler co-founder John Matze said on Sunday it will take time to get it back to work.
“We’ll do everything we can to get back online as soon as possible, but all the vendors we contact tell us they don’t want to work with us if Apple or Google don’t approve,” and it’s hard to “300 to 500 computer servers can be found within 24 hours, ”Matze acknowledged in an interview with Fox News.
In a statement Sunday evening, Matze said he wants to make Parler once again a place of “open dialogue” where no violence of any kind is tolerated.
The social network, launched in 2018, works similar to that of Twitter. Freedom of speech is his leitmotif.
Parler, based in Henderson, Nevada, was founded by Matze, a computer engineer, and Rebekah Mercer, a major donor to the Republican Party.
– An emerging social network –
The platform initially drew conservative users, some from the far right, but recently started using more traditional Republican votes. Fox News presenter Sean Hannity had 7.6 million followers and his colleague Tucker Carlson 4.4 million.
Republican politicians such as MP Devin Nunes and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem also came to Parler.
But it was Twitter’s recent decision to permanently ban Trump’s personal account, which skyrocketed the number of users on Parler.
Other major social networks, such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat or Twitch, have also suspended Trump’s profile, leading many of his followers to turn en masse to conservative platforms like Parler or Gab.
Following this heavy-handed rally by the tech giants against extremist posts, conservative social media will likely have to adapt.
The live video service DLive, used by several protesters on Wednesday during the Capitol invasion, banned seven channels and removed more than 100 videos.
Some may choose to act like Gab, a social network mostly populated by ultra-conservative users.
The platform was at the center of controversy in 2018, when it was discovered that the perpetrator of a shooting that killed 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue had posted many anti-Semitic messages on this social network.
After Apple and Google vetoed it, Gab bought his own servers to avoid relying on outside companies.
This network took advantage of what happened to Parler and has gained thousands of subscribers in the past few hours.