Parler sues Amazon over web shutdown issue mentioning it a politically motivated move

Parler sues Amazon over web shutdown issue mentioning it a politically motivated move

Parler initiated a lawsuit against Amazon after it blocked the online giant's access to President Donald Trump's supporters due to United States (US) Capitol invasion and to combat purported plans for new violent demonstrations, especially after Joe Biden's (US President) victory

The tussle started between the social media platform Parler and Amazon after the latter blocked the website to rein in incitements to violence. Parler requested the Federal Court (Court) to restrain the order of blocking the Amazon Web Services and denial of access to internet servers.

Parler in its lawsuit stated that web trackers were shutting down due to political reasons however web tracker alleged that they went offline earlier only and they had failed to find a new hosting service. The suit further states, "Shutting down the servers would be the equivalent of pulling the plug on a hospital patient on life support."

Parler stated that it would hamper it's business that is all set to skyrocket. It was further alleged by Parler that Amazon was violating antitrust laws. It was further alleged that Amazon is helping social rival Twitter that was already banned by US President Donald Trump (Trump) for use of language that could incite violence.

It was mentioned in the lawsuit that amazon's decision to terminate the account of Parler is motivated by political animus. It aims at reducing competition in the micro-blogging services market for benefitting Twitter.It also stated that this whole act is a gimmick and a foul play by Amazon.

However, Amazon argued that there was no merit to the lawsuit. The spokesperson of Amazon stated, "It is clear that there is significant content on Parler that encourages and incites violence against others, and that Parler is unable or unwilling to promptly identify and remove this content, which is a violation of our terms of services."

Amazon further mentioned that "We saw a significant increase in this type of dangerous content, not a decrease, which led to our suspension of their services."

It was stated by Parler that a war against free speech is going on and it further mentioned, "Our team worked hard to produce a strong set of community guidelines, which expressly forbids content which incites or threatens violence, or other activity which breaks the law.

It is alleged that Amazon's act is politically motivated. Twitter and Facebook have suspended Trump's account, while online payment service Stripe said it would stop handling transactions on Trump's website.Twitter had already suspended about 70,000 accounts that were linked with theQAnon conspiracy theory wherein five people were killed.

Twitter mentioned that the decision to suspend Trump's account was based on plans for more armed protests that have been proliferating on and off the service, including a proposed second attack on the US Capitol and state capitol buildings.

Parler was launched in 2018, it attracted people from conservative groups and also users from the extreme-right. However, now the platform has signed up many who have traditional Republican voices. The platform was blocked as the supporters of Trump expressed outrage.

In 2018, Parler faced immense criticism when it was found out by the investigators that anti-Semitic messages were posted on the platform and later the attack on the Pittsburgh synagogue took place.