On Saturday, Amazon removed social media platform Parler from its web hosting servers. Parler, a social network favored by conservatives, is targeted in the riot on Wednesday at the US Capitol in the wake of President Donald Trump’s migration to the platform after he was banned by social media giants Twitter and Facebook .
#BREAK Amazon has suspended #To speak‘s web services account will leave the platform offline until they find a new host. The news comes after Apple and Google removed the app from their stores. #App Store #Amazon #Twitter
– Eric Wasserman? “WASS” (@ EricWasserman1) January 10, 2021
Parler will have to find another hosting service, otherwise the platform could be offline as early as Sunday.
According to an email obtained by BuzzFeed, the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Trust and Safety team told Parler Chief Policy Officer Amy Peikoff that calls for violence against Parler violated the terms of service. Amazon added, “This morning you shared that you have a plan to moderate violent content more proactively, but you plan to do it manually with volunteers. We believe this emerging plan to use volunteers to promptly mitigate dangerous content. Identifying and removing will not work in light of the rapidly growing number of violent posts.
The email continued, “Recently we have seen a steady increase in this violent content on your website, all of which violates our terms. Obviously, Parler does not have an effective process to comply with AWS terms of service,” the email reads. “We cannot provide services to a customer who is unable to effectively identify and remove content that encourages or incites violence against others. Because Parler cannot comply with our terms of service and poses a very real risk to public safety,” we plan to suspend Parler’s account effective Sunday, January 10 at 11:59 pm PST. “
Google removed Parler from their app store on Friday, shortly after US President Donald Trump created a Parler account, prompting crowds around the world to migrate to Parler as well.
Apple had given Parler 24 hours earlier on Friday to “clean up” certain messages they considered “inciting violence,” or it would also be banned from their App Store. Apple did not specify which messages they referred to and banned Parler Saturday afternoon.
Parler CEO John Matze has published an announcement on the platform to inform users of the upcoming shutdown of the platform. He stated that the site is expected to be offline for at least a week and that the company was “preparing for events like these.” He said Parler will try to find a new hosting provider in the meantime.
