- Amazon will no longer provide cloud services to Parler, a social media app popular with Trump supporters, after telling the company that it offers ‘violent content’ that violates its terms of service.
- The suspension will take effect on Sunday at 23:59 PT.
- The move will effectively take Parler offline unless he can find a new company that can offer his services.
- The decision follows similar moves by Google and Apple, which Parler is uploading from their app stores.
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Parler CEO John Matze joins CNBC
Amazon pulled the plug on Parler, a social media app popular with Trump supporters, following the deadly riot in the U.S. Capitol earlier this week.
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Amazon’s cloud computing unit, Amazon Web Services (AWS), told Parler on Saturday that it would no longer provide cloud services to the company that will deliver PT on Sunday at 11:59 p.m., according to an email received by CNBC. AWS provides cloud services to Parler hosting its website, which means that if Parler is unable to locate a new cloud provider on Sunday night, the website will go offline for its users.
News of Amazon’s decision to abandon Parler was first reported by BuzzFeed. Several news reports reported that Amazon Parler had already been suspended, but the site was still available to CNBC staff from the early hours of the East Coast time.
In the email, Amazon Web Services’ Trust and Security Team told Amler Peikoff, Parler’s chief policy officer, that the platform still offers’ violent content ‘that violates AWS’s terms of service. AWS said it was not happy with Parler’s efforts to moderate content on its platform and would therefore ‘suspend parler’s account’.
“AWS provides technology and services to customers across the political spectrum, and we still respect Parler’s right to determine for itself what content it will allow on its website,” the letter reads. “However, we can not provide services to a customer who cannot effectively identify and remove content that encourages or incites violence against others. Because Parler is unable to meet our conditions of service and poses a very real risk to public safety, are we going to suspend “Parler’s account is in effect on Sunday, January 10 at 11:59 p.m. PST. “
Although Google and Apple both removed the Parler app from their app stores on Friday and Saturday, respectively, users could still log in if they had already installed the app or through the Parler website. Amazon’s move to stop Parler goes a step further and effectively takes it offline, unless the company can find a new host first.
An Amazon spokesman confirmed the authenticity of the letter to CNBC, but declined to comment further. A Parler spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
AWS said in an email to Parler that he marked 98 examples of Parler from posts that “clearly encourage and incite violence.” Among the reports CNBC reported to Parler, users on the platform, in addition to other groups, made violent threats against “liberal leaders, liberal activists #blm leaders and supporters”.
Screenshots of the Parler app seen by CNBC show users posting references to shooting groups, as well as calls to bring weapons to the presidential inauguration later this month.
Parler CEO John Matze told the New York Times in an interview with Kara Swisher on Thursday that he does not feel responsible for this, nor the platform, as we are a neutral city square that is just the law. “
Launched in 2018, Parler has emerged over the past year as a popular platform for President Trump’s allies, citing himself as an alternative to speechless factors for social media services such as Twitter and Facebook.
Earlier Saturday, a group of Amazon employees called on the company to sever ties with Parler. In a tweet late Saturday, the group, Amazon employees for climate justice, applauded the company’s decision to drop Parler.
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