One has to wonder if Big Tech realizes that they are essentially validating all the arguments that are made for antitrust intervention. Too bad it took so long to get to this point, but perhaps Parler’s demand will provide the necessary catalyst.
And it certainly seems like Parler has a good case here:
Parler, the far-right-favored alternative social media platform, sued Amazon on Monday in response to its degradation, alleging antitrust infringement, breach of contract and interference in the company’s business relationships with users.
The lawsuit seeks a federal restraining order (TRO) against Amazon (AMZN) and describes Amazon Web Services’ decision as a “death blow” to Parler.
“Without AWS, Parler is finished as he has no way to connect,” the complaint said. “And a delay in granting this TRO even one day could also sound like Parler’s sound when President Trump and others switch to other platforms.”
Parler’s lawsuit alleges that Amazon has tried to illegally curb competition by removing a player from the market.
Second look for conservatives a net neutrality? To answer that question, don’t forget to read Jazz’s post yesterday about the goalkeepers ’assault on Parler. It now involves almost every Big Tech organization except Facebook, and this is only because Facebook has no goalkeeper status in Parler. Both Google and Apple demanded content moderation from Parler to host their app in their stores, and that was before Amazon shut them down for the same issue.
In any other industry and in any other context, this would be very similar to … monopolistic behavior and collusion. That it should promote government actions in connection with the Sherman Act, either in the Federal Trade Commission or the Department of Justice, to determine whether such collusion 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 involving Donald Trump and his supporters, which the ACLU had already criticized, as it is more concerned with issues of free speech and other civil liberties:
That’s what ACLU’s lawyer, Ben, told me, completely, that Parler is getting dark because of AWS. pic.twitter.com/aIELab0kze
– Davey Alba (@daveyalba) January 11, 2021
Pay close attention to the reference to the “principles of neutrality”. The Trump administration dispensed with net neutrality regulations at the beginning of the term, which the Conservatives applauded. If these are recalculated to provide some sort of brake on this type of degradation (or even sold as such by the Biden administration), the Conservatives could end up encouraging its re-imposition.
The real problem here is the let it go the focus of consolidation in recent decades and the reluctance to understand what this means in political power. For years I have been arguing about this blind spot on the right and what it would ultimately mean for access and influence. Talking is the canary of the coal mine and a harbinger of what is to come, unless we begin to assert ourselves in consolidation and begin to dismantle mega-corporations.