Rep. Devin Nunes, R-California, on Sunday called for a hoax investigation into the decisions of Amazon, Apple and Google to suspend the alternative social media platform Parler after Wednesday’s riot in the US Capitol.
In an interview on Sunday Morning Futures, Nunes said Amazon, Apple and Google’s suspension of Parler was “apparently a violation” of antitrust, civil rights and the RICO law on racketeering-affected and corrupt organizations (a federal law that provides for extensive criminal fines and a civil case for actions taken as part of an ongoing criminal organization.
“I do not know where the Department of Justice is now or the FBI,” the rank member of the House’s Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence told host Maria Bartiromo.
Nunes argued that a hooliganism investigation should take place on all the people who coordinated this attack on not just a company, but on everyone like us.
“I have 3 million followers on Parler,” he added. “Tonight I will no longer be able to communicate with those people and they are Americans.”
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The DOJ and the FBI did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
Nunes made the comments Sunday hours before Amazon planned to suspend Parler from its Amazon Web Services (AWS) unit in a move that would take the site offline unless it finds another hosting service.
According to Amazon, the move was made for violating AWS ‘terms of service by not handling a steady increase in violent content effectively, according to an email by an AWS Trust and Safety team to Parler, reports Reuters.
According to the email, AWS planned to cancel Parler’s account on Sunday at 11:59 p.m. An Amazon spokesman confirmed that the letter was authentic.
Amazon Web Services’ Acceptable Use Policy prevents customers from using their services for “illegal, harmful or offensive” content. A Amazon representative declined to comment.
Parler is critical of Wednesday’s riots, in which President Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, attacked police, vandalized the building and stole items from inside.
Screenshots taken of Parler and shared on other social media platforms apparently show that users of Parler openly discuss the plans for violence during the protest that preceded the attack on the Capitol, including bringing weapons and suggesting how they counter it would use their political opponents.
Google and Apple have already suspended the Parler app from their respective app markets, with the requirement that the platform improve moderation.
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“We are aware of the continuing placement in the Parler app that seeks to incite ongoing violence in the US,” a Google spokesman told Fox News.
“Parler has not taken adequate measures to address the spread of these threats to human safety,” Apple told Fox News.
“The effect of this is that there is no free and open social media business or website for any American to go any further,” Nunes said Sunday.
He further said that Apple, Amazon and Google Parler “just destroyed”.
“Republicans have no way of communicating,” Nunes said, adding that “it doesn’t even matter if you are Republican or Conservative.”
He stressed that there is no social media platform left for those who “do not want to be regulated by leftists on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram, where your shadow is banned, no one can see you, they have to decide what is violent and not not violent. ‘
“It’s ridiculous,” Nunes stressed.
Amazon, Apple and Google’s suspension of Parler comes after Twitter’s Friday decision to ban President Trump’s personal account after the mob of his loyalists stormed the US Capitol, resulting in several deaths. The tech company has accused Trump of inciting violence.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced in a statement on Thursday that the block placed on Trump’s Facebook and Instagram account would be extended “indefinitely”, saying: “We believe the risks to allow the president to use our service during this period, simply too much is wonderful. ‘
Facebook owns the Instagram platform.
Bartiromo said on Sunday that “all these moves definitely feel like communist China, where there is a repression of freedom of speech.”
She then asked Nunes what he wanted to do as an elected official.
In response, Nunes noted that the “hypocrisy” of Big Tech suspending Trump and Parler “knows no bounds.”
He tweeted “Hang Mike Pence” on Friday night, with about 14,000 tweets after social media platform Trump banned “because of the risk of further incitement to violence,” according to reports.
“I think it’s violence,” Nunes said Sunday, referring to Pence on Twitter. “Does Apple remove the Twitter app from the app store? Hell no.
“These CEOs who do this should be prosecuted,” Nunes added.
“I have talked to many of my colleagues, Republicans on the House side and some senators,” he continued. “We’re going to seek legal options, do we have any legal options? Do we have our first amendment rights? Are they being violated?”
He went on to say that he believed “federal judges should step in”.
“Legislative, you have to understand, this is not about Big Tech and that they are just in Silicon Valley and just trying to make money, no, they are working for the Democratic Socialist Party,” Nunes said. “They are applauded by this. They are state-run media and in fact it is the communication system.
“This is how people receive their information through this funnel of very few companies controlled by the Democratic Socialist Party,” Nunes added.
Twitter seems to be noticing the “Hang Mike Pence” trend at some point: on the Twitter Trending USA website, which has been following the top 10 trending topics for the past 12 hours, the article does not appear.
“We blocked the phrase and other variations of it to tend,” a Twitter spokesman told Fox News on Saturday. “We want trends to promote healthy discussions on Twitter.”
Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook and Twitter did not immediately respond to Fox News ‘request for comment on Nunes’ claim that the companies were “controlled by the Democratic Socialist Party.”
Immediately before Nunes appeared on ‘Sunday Morning Futures’, Parler CEO John Matze said on the program that what was’ happening’ was extremely narrow ‘and that the Big Tech movements appeared to be an attempt to ‘to stifle speech and competition in the market. . “
Parler is likely to go offline for a while on Sunday night, given AWS ‘decision to discontinue the social media platform.
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Matze told Sunday Morning Futures that the site would try to get ‘online again’ as soon as possible, after writing on the platform that the site was down for up to a week.
Fox Business ‘James Leggate and Fox News’ Peter Aitken contributed to this report.