Amazon on Tuesday brought receipts in its response to the lawsuit that Parler apparently ignored on the social networking platform, with the AWS’s repeated attempts to get Parler to address explicit threats of violence to the service.
In the wake of the violent uprising at the U.S. Capitol last Wednesday, AWS Parler kicked off its web hosting platform at midnight Sunday night. In response, Parler filed a lawsuit accusing Amazon of violating a contract for political reasons and conspiring with Twitter to drive a competitor offline.
But the ban has nothing to do with ‘weakening views’ or ‘conspiracy’ to restrain a competitor, Amazon said in its response submission (PDF). Instead, Amazon said: “This case is about proving Parler’s unwillingness and inability” to actively remove dangerous content, including posts that incite and plan the rape, torture and assassination of said public officials and private citizens … AWS suspended Parler’s account. as a last resort to prevent further access to such content, including plans for violence to disrupt the impending presidential transition. ‘
“If there is any infringement, it’s proof that Parler is unable to identify and remove the content,” Amazon added. A compelling AWS to present content that plans, encourages and incites violence would be unprecedented. “
Not suddenly at all
To an outside observer, the rapid rise of Parler, as well as its thorough breakdown at the end of last week and the weekend, may have felt extremely sudden. Parler was launched in 2018, but only a few months ago gained widespread traction around the November election.
Reports first surfaced in December that right-wing elements were using Parler and other platforms to plan a January 6th protest or rally in Washington, DC. The whole world has seen the “gatherings” turn out last week. .
Last Friday, following the events at the Capitol, Google banned Parler from the Android app store, citing the platform’s failure to remove “serious content such as violent incitement messages”. Apple followed up a day later and suspended Parler in the same way for iOS ‘failure to address the “spread of these threats to human safety”. By the end of the weekend, Parler also got the trunk at AWS and was taken completely offline.
Parler, however, did not suddenly cut off months of warning, says Amazon. Amazon’s submission included copies of emails sent to Parler in mid-November (PDF, content warning for racial barriers) containing screenshots full of racist insights about Democrats, including former first lady Michelle Obama, with a series of responses from others users ‘all.’
Over the next seven weeks, Amazon delivered “more than 100 additional representative pieces of content” promoting violence to Parler. Another document (PDF, also with content warning for racial barriers and threats of violence) sets out dozens of examples of postings Amazon reported to Parler in early December. These posts call, among other things, for the murder of a specific transgender person; actively wishing for a racial war and the murder of black and Jewish people; and killing several activists and politicians such as Stacey Abrams, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DN.Y.), and former President Barack Obama.
Representatives of AWS spoke to Parler’s executive leadership on January 8 and 9 about the platform’s ‘content moderation policies, processes, and tools,’ Amazon said. In response, Parler allegedly offered steps that would rely on ‘voluntary’ moderation, and Parler CEO John Matze allegedly told AWS that ‘Parler’ had a backlog of 26,000 reports of content that violated its community standards. and was still employed. ‘
Legal concerns
Violent threats made by at least some Parler users have unfortunately proven to be hypothetical.
Almost all of Parler’s content is archived before the service is completely offline. Gizmodo reporters digging into the archival data were able to find several hundred users of Parler who posted videos in the Capitol or on the platform during the January 6 events.
Ad-hoc efforts on Reddit and Twitter to collect screenshots and videos of Parler also shows a disturbing pattern of threats and claims made on the platform in the days before and after the January 6 uprising.
As The Washington Post reported Tuesday, the FBI was also well aware of credible threats of violence being made online. On January 5, a day before rioters stormed the Capitol, an FBI office in Norfolk, Virginia, a memorandum was partially issued: ‘An online thread discusses specific calls for violence to include’ Be ready to to fight. Congress must hear glass break, doors kicked in and blood of their BLM and Pantifa slave soldiers spilled. Become violent. Stop calling it a march, or a demonstration or a protest action. Go there ready for war. We get our president or we die. NOTHING else will achieve this goal. ”
Unfortunately, the threats of violence have not diminished either. The District of Columbia is slowly turning into a stronghold ahead of President Joe Biden’s election next week, as credible threats of violence target not only the country’s capital but also the country’s capitals.