Last week, Google Play and Apple gave Parler the boot from their app stores.
Both Google and Apple ultimately declared that Parler’s content moderation policies are not in keeping with their companies’ terms and services agreements; therefore, Google and Apple maintain that Parler will stay banned from their app stores until they alter their moderation policies. Of course, this follows after the unfortunate events in the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
Big tech has decided that some users on Parler contributed to or discussed taking acts of violence on Capitol Hill. Therefore, companies like Google, Apple, and now Amazon are blaming Parler altogether.
According to Breitbart News, Amazon has stopped Parler from using their online web hosting services due to supposed “terms of service” violations.
Amazon vs. Parler
In an email to Parler, Amazon alleged that there’s a surge of “violent content” on Parler’s website. Amazon then proceeded to claim that this allegedly “violent content” breaches their terms of service before opining that Parler is still “trying to determine” content moderation guidelines.
The email then goes on to admit that Parler actually has taken down violent content when alerted about it; however, Amazon believes that the timeline in which this content is removed is not “with urgency” as they’d like.
BREAKING: Parler say they will be operational after less than 12 hours of downtime after Amazon take them down from their servers on Sunday.
— 🇺🇸Maggie VandenBerghe🇺🇸 (@FogCityMidge) January 10, 2021
Finally, Amazon explains that in light of Wednesday’s events on Capitol Hill, they believe Parler poses a public safety risk and will therefore suspend Parler’s web hosting service account on January 10 at 11:59 PM.
Response from Parler CEO John Matze
The impending removal of Parler from Amazon prompted some remarks from Parler CEO John Matze.
On Parler, Matze explained that Parler prepared ahead of time for events such as this by “building bare metal products” and not relying upon the “proprietary infrastructure” of Amazon. The Parler CEO then revealed that the site will quickly work to move to a different provider, seeing as there are many providers “competing” for Parler’s business.
There's talk that Amazon may soon switch off the servers that host Parler. If that happens, I will leave Twitter, Google and Facebook and stop buying from Amazon.
Free speech matters.
— Nick Pye 🙂🇬🇧 (@Nick_Pye) January 10, 2021
Matze furthermore called out Apple, Google, and Amazon for methodical efforts to kill off competition and shut down free speech. The Parler CEO also explained that Parler is the “closest thing to competition” that Twitter and Facebook have experienced in many, many years.
What do you think about Amazon removing Parler’s web hosting services? Are you looking forward to Parler finding a new provider as they’ve vowed to do? Don’t be afraid to let us know in the comments section below.
