A district court judge on Thursday denied Parler’s motion for a temporary restraining order against Amazon, which last week drove the conservative social media platform offline for violating its terms of service by inciting violence following the siege of the U.S. Capitol on January 6th.
Parler’s motion is attached to his broader lawsuit against Amazon Cloud Services over conspiracy in restricting trade; breach of contract; and torturing interference. Judge Barbara Jacobs Rothstein, judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle, had to determine in the consideration of a restraining order the likelihood that Parler would eventually triumph over his claims. She said the service was not happy at all three points.
Related story
‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel ‘starts production on season 4
“The court explicitly rejects any suggestion that the balance of shares or the public interest be promoted to compel AWS to present the kind of abusive, violent content that is relevant in this case, especially in light of the recent riots at the American Capitol. “This event was a tragic reminder that inflammatory rhetoric – faster and easier than many of us would have hoped – could turn a legitimate protest into a violent uprising,” the judge wrote.
On the first allegation, the judge said, Parler did not show that it was likely to succeed under the conspiracy claim under the Sherman Act that Amazon and Twitter – which permanently suspended former President Donald Trump’s bill for inciting the Capitol do not have. rioters – performed in concert. ‘The evidence it has provided in support of the claim has been diminished and disputed by AWS. What’s important is that Parler provided no evidence that AWS and Twitter deliberately – or even not at all – acted together to trade … In short, Parler offered only faint and factually inaccurate speculations in support of an offense. of the Sherman Act. ”
She said Parler does not deny that the content posted on its platform violates the terms of its agreement with Amazon, and only claims that AWS did not notify Parler that Parler infringed and gave Parler 30 days to to heal, as Parler claims. is required. But she notes that the service agreement authorizes AWS to terminate “immediately upon notice”. The social media platform “has failed to evoke more than the rarest speculation that AWS ‘actions were done for an improper purpose or by improper means.”
She was also dubious about evidence submitted by Parler to support the allegation of torture interference.
Amazon described a lawsuit by Parler as “ruthless” and called the facts “unambiguous”.
In a court case responding to the Parler case, Jeff Bezos-led company attorneys say Parler’s case “is not about suppressing speech or stifling views. It is not about a conspiracy to trade Instead, it is about Parler’s unwillingness and inability to remove content from the Amazon Web Services (AWS) that threatens public safety, such as by inciting rape, torture, and assassination of designated public officials and private citizens. and to plan. ”
Parler, a young service launched in 2018, saw its user base come to life as conservative voices, QAnon acolytes and conspiracy theorists with the stop-the-steal concentration theorists, and was then disillusioned by traditional social media and then found that their conspiracy had been blocked from the platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat. Apple and Google looted Parler from their app stores.
It is not clear when Parler will return. On the home page, technical problems are noted and it is said: “Now seems like the right time to remind you all – lovers and haters – why we started this platform. We believe privacy is paramount, and freedom of speech is essential, especially on social media. Our goal has always been to provide a non-partisan public square where individuals can enjoy and exercise their rights to both. ”
Parler CEO John Matze told Fox News on Sunday night he was confident the service would be back by the end of the month.