The Parler logo displayed on a smartphone with the Google, Amazon and Apple logos displayed on the PC screen in the background. Google, Apple and Amazon have suspended the Parler social networking app.
Pavlo Gonchar | LightRocket | Getty Images
Amazon defended its decision to leave Parler of its web hosting service in response to a lawsuit filed by the social media app earlier this week.
In court appearances Tuesday afternoon, Amazon said it flagged dozens of violent content on the social media app as of November. The company argued that Parler violated its contract with Amazon’s cloud computing unit, Amazon Web Services (AWS), when it was unable to remove the content and that AWS suspended Parler’s account “as a last resort. “.
“This case is not about suppressing speech or stifling views,” Amazon wrote in its response to Parler. “This is not a conspiracy to restrict trade. Instead, this case is about Parler’s demonstrated willingness and inability to remove from AWS content that threatens public security, such as inciting and planning rape, torture and the killing of designated public officials and private citizens. “
Amazon pulled the plug on Parler, a popular social media app among Trump supporters, last week in the wake of the deadly U.S. Capitol riot. Parler filed a lawsuit against Amazon on Monday, accusing Amazon of breaching its contract and violating antitrust laws. Parler also asked the court for a temporary restraining order to force AWS to reset its account.
In its response to Parler’s lawsuit, Amazon argued that restoring the web service to Parler would likely harm the public, outweighing “any speculative damage Parler claims it may suffer” to keep its site offline.
He also rejected Parler’s claim that AWS violated antitrust laws by denying him the service. He cited section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a law favored by Silicon Valley and increasingly attacked by lawmakers, which protects technology companies from being responsible for what users post on their platforms.
Amazon said it began reporting content in violation of its terms of service to Parler on Nov. 17 last year. Over the next seven weeks, Amazon said it reported more than 100 additional content advocating violence.
Amazon included some examples of this content in presentations alongside its lawsuit, which include death threats against members of Congress, executives of technology companies like Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, and U.S. Capitol police, among other groups. In some Parler posts, users made threats to “burn Amazon delivery trucks” and Apple stores, as well as to “seize Amazon’s servers.”
“We should peacefully rally out of all these technological tyrants homes and businesses, then protest peacefully and loot and burn them,” a Parler publication said, according to the court file.
Amazon said the encouraging content of the violence grew after the violence on Wednesday by some Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol, which left five dead. Following the riot, politicians and the public have called on social media companies such as Google’s Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to more closely moderate their platforms to avoid incitement to violence.
Amazon held calls with Parler executives after the riots, where it raised concerns about Parler’s ineffective moderation strategies, which included relying on volunteers to report content. Parler CEO John Matze indicated in one of those calls that the site had a cumulative 26,000 content reports that violated its policies and were still up to date on the site, according to the request.
“Parler’s own failures left AWS little choice but to suspend Parler’s account,” Amazon said in the presentation.
Parler did not respond to any requests for comment. Amazon previously said there was “no merit” to the claims exposed in Parler’s lawsuit.