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Pro-Free Speech Platform Parler Is Suing Amazon — Again

Christophe Gateau/dpa via AP
Christophe Gateau/dpa via AP
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By Tré Goins-Phillips
Editor

March 3, 2021

Parler, the social media platform often described as a pro-free speech alternative to Twitter, has filed another lawsuit against Amazon, arguing the company stifled free speech under false pretenses.

In a new legal complaint filed Tuesday in a Washington state court, Parler claimed Amazon Web Services, the network that hosted the site before pulling the plug on the platform in mid-January, “tried to justify the repudiation based on allegations against Parler” that it “knew were false,” Bloomberg reported.

The new defamation suit came the same day Parler dropped its Jan. 11 lawsuit alleging AWS violated antitrust laws.

BREAKING: Parler just filed another lawsuit against Amazon, alleging breach of contract, defamation, other counts.

Suit says Parler was about to be valued at $1B. As a result of AWS, Parler "lost tens of millions of current and prospective" users.https://t.co/bH6zUWKdSs pic.twitter.com/Otmn2KR4Mk

— Bobby Allyn (@BobbyAllyn) March 3, 2021

Parler's lawyers say Amazon/AWS has been secretly profiting off of Parler user data by selling it to "whomever has an Amazon S3 account and is willing to pay to download the data" pic.twitter.com/4hRsFLywk4

— Bobby Allyn (@BobbyAllyn) March 3, 2021

New: Parler drops its lawsuit in federal court against AWS, according to new filing, shortly after launching a new suit in state court in Washington against Amazon and AWS. pic.twitter.com/K9kfMAC20O

— Bobby Allyn (@BobbyAllyn) March 3, 2021

In its latest filing, Parler, which came back online in mid-February with a new web host, accuses Amazon of attempting to “destroy an up-and-coming technology company through deceptive, defamatory, anticompetitive, and bad faith conduct.”

The suit further alleges AWS’ decision to terminate its agreement “breached its contract to host Parler’s website and app on AWS’ cloud services.” It went on to accuse Amazon of using “strong-arm tactics” that were “unlawful and tortious.”

***As the number of voices facing big-tech censorship continues to grow, please sign up for Faithwire’s daily newsletter and download the CBN News app, developed by our parent company, to stay up-to-date with the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***

Much of the basis for the decision by AWS was rooted in the Jan. 6 riot inside the U.S. Capitol, carried out by radicals who support former President Donald Trump. The argument for banishing Parler from app stores — and ultimately the internet altogether — was that rioters used the site to organize.

However, in the days after the riot, it was revealed Facebook played an outsized role in providing space for radicals to organize ahead of the Jan. 6 incident.

Angelo Carusone, president and CEO of the leftist Media Matters, told Salon, “If you took Parler out of the equation, you would still almost certainly have wha happened at the Capitol.”

“If you took Facebook out of the equation before that,” he continued, “you would not. To me, when Apple and Google sent their letter to Parler, I was a little bit confused why Facebook didn’t get one.”

In a response to the latest lawsuit, AWS argued there is “no merit” to Parler’s new allegations, adding it “respect[s] Parler’s right to determine for itself what content it will allow,” however, “as shown by evidence in Parler’s federal lawsuit, it was clear that there was significant content on Parler that encouraged and incited violence against others, which is a violation of our terms of service.”

***As the number of voices facing big-tech censorship continues to grow, please sign up for Faithwire’s daily newsletter and download the CBN News app, developed by our parent company, to stay up-to-date with the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***

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