Parler sues Amazon after hosting shut-down took app offline

Conservative social media app says Amazon acted out of ‘political animus’

Parler has sued Amazon after the tech giant kicked the conservative-leaning social media app off its servers.

In court papers Parler claimed that Amazon Web Services violated antitrust law by shutting down its account and breached their contractual agreement.

Parler, which is popular with supporters of Donald Trump. was suspended by Amazon amid concerns it could not screen out material that may incite violence.

Right-wing groups behind the storming of the Capitol reportedly used the app to co-ordinate their actions to try and prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory over Mr Trump.

Now Parler has asked a federal judge in Seattle to order Amazon to reinstate its service.

In an 18-page complaint filed by their lawyers, Parler accuses Amazon Web Services of “political animus” and double standards compared to the treatment given to Twitter.

“AWS’s decision to effectively terminate Parler’s account is apparently motivated by political animus,” states the lawsuit.

“It is also apparently designed to reduce competition in the microblogging services market to the benefit of Twitter.”

Parler saw a huge surge in membership following last week’s Trump riot at the Capitol Building, which saw five people killed.

Parler’s court filing states that their increase in popularity means its reinstatement online is urgent.

"It will kill Parler’s business — at the very time it is set to skyrocket," the filing states.

AWS cut off Parler from its servers on Sunday night, shortly after Apple and Google took similar action.

In 2020 around 10 million people dowloaded Parler, with 80 per cent of users in the US.

Parler says that its usage has increased in 2021 with a 355 per cent surge on Friday alone, the day Twitter banned Mr Trump’s account.

"If Parler is not available, people will turn to alternatives, or perhaps return to Twitter or Facebook," reads the complaint.

"And once those users have begun to use another platform, they may not return to Parler once it’s back online."