We have to ask ourselves if Big Tech realizes that, in essence, it validates every argument put forward for antitrust intervention. Too bad it took so long to get to that point, but maybe Parler’s process will provide the necessary catalyst.
And it certainly looks like Parler has a pretty good case here:
Parler, the far-right alternative social media platform, sued Amazon on Monday in response to disapproval, citing antitrust violations, breaches of contract and interference with the company’s business relationships with users.
The lawsuit seeks a federal restraining order (TRO) against Amazon (AMZN) and calls the Amazon Web Services decision a “death blow” for Parler.
“Without AWS, Parler is finished because it has no way to go online,” the complaint reads. “And a delay in granting this TRO even one day could also sound like Parler’s death, while President Trump and others move to other platforms.”
Parler’s lawsuit alleges that Amazon illegally sought to restrict competition by removing a player from the market.
A second look at conservatives at net neutrality? To answer this question, be sure to read Jazz’s post yesterday about the goalkeepers’ attack on Parler. It now involves almost every Big Tech organization except Facebook, and that’s just because Facebook doesn’t have the status of gatekeeper for Parler. Both Google and Apple have asked for content moderation on Parler to host their app in their stores, and this before Amazon closes them for the same issue.
In any other industry and in any other context, it’s very similar to … monopolistic behavior and collusion. This one should to promptly act with the government in connection with the Sherman Act, either at the Federal Trade Commission or the Department of Justice, to determine whether such collusion has occurred. More importantly, it demonstrates the dangers of consolidation in any industry, but perhaps especially in the technology and communications industry.
ACLU lawyer Ben Wizner warns that these decisions have consequences, even if they are popular at the moment. This goes beyond the Twitter purge involved in Donald Trump and his supporters, which the ACLU has already criticized, as it addresses issues of freedom of expression and other civil liberties:
Here’s what ACLU lawyer Ben Wizner told me, in full, that Parler is getting dark because of AWS. pic.twitter.com/aIELab0kze
– Davey Alba (@daveyalba) January 11, 2021
Remember the reference to the “principles of neutrality”. The Trump administration dropped regulations on net neutrality at the beginning of their term, which the Conservatives cheered. If they are recalculated to provide some kind of brake on this type of deformation – or even sold as such by the Biden administration – the Conservatives could end up cheering on their reimposition.
The real problem here is let it go the approach to consolidation in recent decades and the reluctance to understand what that means in political power. I argued for years about this blind spot on the right and what it would ultimately mean for access and influence. Parler is the coal mine canary – and a harbinger of the future, unless we begin to be assertive in consolidation and begin to dismantle mega-corporations.