Amazon (AMZN) received a lawsuit on Monday from the conservative social media app Parler over its decision to block the launch of Amazon Web Services (AWS) – and at least one AWS competitor will not pass a moral verdict on Parler’s presentation content on its servers.
Amazon’s policies and the policies of other technology giants that blocked Parler after millions of supporters of President Donald Trump flocked to the launch are at odds with those adopted by rival CloudSigma in Zurich, according to its chief executive. , Robert Jenkins.
“I do not like the idea … that the business creates its own kind of taste beliefs and decides what is acceptable what is not acceptable,” Jenkins said. “You end up sitting in this position in a position where you want to serve as a judge and adjudicator over something as a hosting provider.”
According to Parler’s lawsuit, AWS effectively shut down Parler’s online platforms by suspending its account from the only servers containing the content. With less than 30 hours notice, Parler said, Amazon took its microblogging platform offline, violated its service contract, tampered with contracts between Parler and its users, and violated antitrust laws.
“AWS’s decision to effectively terminate Parler’s account appears to be motivated by political animus,” reads the complaint filed with Seattle Federal District Court. “It’s apparently also designed to reduce competition in the microblogging services market to the benefit of Twitter.”
John Matze, CEO of Parler, told Fox News that it would be immediately virtually impossible to migrate the platform’s data to another provider, especially given the growing difficulty of finding another hosting company that does business. would do that to Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG, (GOOGL)) dropped Parler from their respective application stores. The technology giants severed ties with Parler over his ties to a violent siege on Capitol Hill to challenge the presidential election results.
Despite its popularity, Matze said it has already been turned down by several companies that could serve as alternative hosts.
‘To technically find a solution is one thing; political is something else, ”says Jenkins, whose company competes with AWS in the hosting and vertical infrastructure market, in countries such as the US, the UK, Switzerland, Japan, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines.
Jenkins said CloudSigma does not judge what is “acceptable” to the platform, or rather bases its services on its content within the jurisdiction in which the company operates. “We have our own opinions, like anyone else, but we are not going to impose them on the user base,” he said, adding that the company relies on law enforcement to prosecute the user’s illegal behavior. “Our approach is therefore very clear and it is the only defensible position for me, because you basically rely on the local cultural norms – which are acceptable in law.”
In a statement sent to Yahoo Finance, an Amazon spokesman said the case did not earn any money, and that AWS served customers across the political spectrum. “However, it is clear that Parler contains significant content that encourages and incites violence against others,” the spokesman said, “and that Parler is unable to immediately identify and remove this content, which is an offense against us. terms of service. ”
Parler “does not condone or accept violence on our platform,” Matze was quoted as saying in a statement by Politico. . ”
Jenkins said he was surprised Parler did not build his platform into multiple cloud service providers to prevent technical or deliberate downtime by AWS. Given the controversial nature of the platform, another solution could be for Parler to buy its own servers, according to Jenkins.
Several experts told Yahoo Finance this week that Parler’s antitrust claim is likely to fail, although Amazon is continuing to be monitored by U.S. regulators over its online market as well as its cloud services business. The merits of Parler’s breach of contract claims will depend on the content of the agreements between the two companies.
‘In these well-functioning societies in which we operate, it is not for us to set the rules. It’s provided by the legal framework, and by the government, and people who vote, “Jenkins said.” And you know, if they do not like something, they can vote to make it illegal. Provide free speech and we will apply it. ”
Yahoo Finance has requested comments from Parler’s legal counsel and will update this story as he responds.
Alexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance and former legal counsel.
Follow Alexis Keenan on Twitter @alexiskweed.
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