SAN FRANCISCO, United States – Amazon will suspend Parler, the technology giant confirmed on Saturday, sending the social media network offline after being banned by Apple and Google for allowing “threats of violence” following a deadly riot at the US Capitol .
Parler’s social network has become a haven for conservatives who say they have been censored by other social media platforms.
It has risen in popularity in recent months and on Saturday became the number 1 free app in Apple’s App Store after the much larger Twitter decided to permanently ban US President Trump from his platform for his role in inciting violence at the Capitol awake.
Support messages for Wednesday’s rioters and calls for new demonstrations flourished on the platform, prompting Google to remove it from its app store on Friday, followed by Apple on Saturday.
Amazon then deleted it from its cloud offering Amazon Web Services and printed it completely offline.
In a letter to Parler first published by Buzzfeed, Amazon said the network was not acting quickly enough against violent content on the platform.
“We’ve seen a steady increase in this violent content on your site, all of which are in violation of our Terms of Service,” reads the letter, the content of which was confirmed to AFP by Amazon.
Given the uproar at the Capitol this week, the letter continued, there was a “serious risk that this type of content would further incite violence.”
This will suspend the account just before midnight Pacific Standard Time on Sunday (0759 GMT Monday).
Since the group presents Parler’s data about its cloud service, it should prevent it from functioning, at least temporarily.
THREATS OF VIOLENCE
The founder of Parler, John Matz, confirmed on his profile that there is a possibility that the network will be available ‘for up to a week’ because it is looking for a new host.
“We will now try our best to move to a new supplier,” he said.
Amazon’s decision has a far more far-reaching impact than Google and Apple.
They made it more complicated to download the Parler app, but users could still access it if it had already been downloaded or if they were using an internet browser.
“We have always supported different views in the App Store, but there is no place on our platform for threats of violence and illegal activity,” Apple said in a statement on Saturday.
“Parler has not taken sufficient measures to address the spread of these threats to human safety. We have suspended Parler from the App Store until they resolve these issues.”
Google removed Parler from its app store because it allowed ‘serious content’ that could incite deadly violence as seen at the Capitol.
Angry Trump supporters stormed the building Wednesday as lawmakers rallied to confirm Joe Biden’s November 3 election victory and kill five people – including a police officer.
Other mainstream social media networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitch also suspended Trump after the attack on the Capitol.
Matze said the platform has “many options” to move forward.
Parler started in 2018 and was initially home to the extreme right, but now it attracts more traditional conservative voices, including Republican lawmakers.
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