Topline
A federal judge denied Parler’s attempt to force Amazon Web Services to put its site back online while a lawsuit against the company is ongoing, saying Thursday that the right-wing social messaging platform has “fallen far short” of demonstrating its legal claims will succeed.
The Parler logo. (Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Key Facts
Parler sued Amazon after the company said it would no longer host the social network on its servers, due to threats of violence on Parler both before and in the wake of the attack on the U.S. Capitol building.
Parler alleged Amazon violated antitrust laws and breached its contract with the company, and filed a request for a temporary restraining order to keep the site up as the litigation moves forward, arguing that delaying the site from going back up “by even one day could...sound Parler’s death knell.”
While the full case is still pending, U.S. District Judge Barbara Jacobs Rothstein struck down Parler’s restraining order request, saying the company has not demonstrated its claims are likely to succeed on the merits.
“Parler has proffered only faint and factually inaccurate speculation” to justify its antitrust claims, the judge wrote, and “has failed to raise more than the scantest speculation that AWS’s actions were taken for an improper purpose or by improper means.”
“The likelihood of Parler prevailing on its claims is not a close call,” Rothstein wrote, saying Parler’s claims “at this time are both inaccurate and unsupported, and are disputed by evidence submitted by AWS.”
Crucial Quote
“The Court explicitly rejects any suggestion” by Parler that AWS is obligated “to host the kind of abusive, violent content at issue in this case, particularly in light of the recent riots at the U.S. Capitol,” Rothstein wrote. “That event was a tragic reminder that inflammatory rhetoric can—more swiftly and easily than many of us would have hoped—turn a lawful protest into a violent insurrection.”
Key Background
Amazon took Parler off its servers following similar actions by Apple and Google that deplatformed the social network, which has gained popularity among conservatives for taking a more lax approach to content moderation than Twitter and Facebook. Amazon noted it had found 98 “posts that clearly encourage and incite violence” in violation of its terms of service, which spurred its decision to take Parler offline. Videos of the recent attack on the U.S. Capitol building on Parler have linked the social media platform to the violent siege, and the House Oversight Committee has asked the FBI to investigate Parler’s potential role in the riot. Parler’s deplatforming came in the wake of Facebook and Twitter banning President Donald Trump and cracking down on far-right users, sending users to Parler and other social networks like Gab.
What To Watch For
Parler recently came back online in a more limited form, with help from the Russian-based company DDoS-Guard. A message on the website’s home page currently says the company “will resolve any challenge before us and plan to welcome all of you back soon,” and CEO John Matze told Fox News the site could return by the end of January. It is still unclear how the platform’s full functionality will return without Amazon, however, as Parler previously explained in a court filing that the company “has tried to find alternative companies to host it and they have fallen through.” “Without AWS, Parler is finished as it has no way to get online,” Parler said in its initial lawsuit, before the site came back online.
Further Reading
Parler Sues Amazon After Company Forces Social Media Site Offline (Forbes)
The Far-Right Is Flocking To These Alternate Social Media Apps — Not All Of Them Are Thrilled (Forbes)
