In the latest blow to social app Parler, Amazon said Saturday it was suspending the company from its web hosting platform effective at 11:59PM PST Sunday.
Parler CEO John Matze said in a post on the site Saturday evening that the site could be offline for up to a week “as we rebuild from scratch.” Matze said the company had prepared for such an event, “by never relying on amazons [sic] proprietary infrastructure and building bare metal products.”
He added that “many” were competing for Parler’s business, and accused Amazon, Google, and Apple of a coordinated attack to kill competition. “We were too successful too fast, Matze wrote. “You can expect the war on competition and free speech to continue, but don’t count us out.”
Amazon Web Services (AWS), told Parler officials that the violence in posts on the site ran afoul of its terms of service; and that it did not believe Parler had a process in place to get back on track.
“Because Parler cannot comply with our terms of service and poses a very real risk to public safety; we plan to suspend Parler’s account effective Sunday, January 10th, at 11:59PM PST,” the company’s trust and safety team wrote in a letter to Parler.
Earlier on Saturday, a group of Amazon employees demanded the company sever its relationship with Parler; and stop providing web hosting services to the platform.
Amazon Employees for Climate Change and Justice tweeted Saturday that Amazon Web Services, the company’s internet infrastructure service; that is the backbone of many websites and apps, should “deny Parler services until it removes posts inciting violence, including at the Presidential inauguration.”
Parler has become popular among supporters of President Trump, as platforms like Twitter; and Facebook tightened their moderation policies.
The group of Amazon employees includes many higher-skilled workers at the company, including data scientists and software developers.
It’s not the first time the group has questioned its company’s practices; it published a letter in April 2019; calling on Amazon to adopt a plan to address climate change, and end AWS’s contracts with fossil fuel companies.
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