Name: Parler unleashes 15-count lawsuit on Amazon, alleging defamation, bullying and bias for Twitter
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Parler unleashes 15-count lawsuit on Amazon, alleging defamation, bullying and bias for Twitter

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Trending:In-depth Amazon coverage from the tech giant’s hometown, including e-commerce, AWS, Amazon Prime, Alexa, logistics, devices, and more.Parler wasn’t ending its fight against Amazon Web Services last night when it its seeking to require the cloud giant to resume hosting its service.In , filed Tuesday afternoon in King County Superior Court in Seattle, the conservative social media platform alleges defamation, negligence, breach of contract, and a litany of other charges against Amazon. Parler says it has lost “tens of millions of current and prospective future users” and “hundreds of millions of dollars in annual advertising revenue.”The 15-count, 66-page complaint claims that Amazon was acting in bad faith, with ulterior motives, when it cut Parler off from AWS on Jan. 9, shortly after Twitter and Facebook banned then-President Donald Trump from their platforms. The suit seeks a jury trial and unspecified financial damages.The suit claims that Amazon misrepresented Parler’s content moderation efforts and its role in the U.S. Capitol riots when AWS said in its termination letter that it “cannot provide services to a customer that is unable to effectively identify and remove content that encourages or incites violence against others.”The suit says Parler had been communicating regularly with Amazon in its quest for effective technical solutions for moderation. It alleges that Amazon compounded the defamation by leaking the termination letter to the press.“In short, these false claims have made Parler a pariah and severely damaged its once-booming business,” the suit says.Amazon issued this statement in response to the suit Wednesday morning.“There is no merit to these claims. AWS provides technology and services to customers across the political spectrum, and we respect Parler’s right to determine for itself what content it will allow. However, as shown by the evidence in Parler’s federal lawsuit, it was clear that there was significant content on Parler that encouraged and incited violence against others, which is a violation of our terms of service. Further, Parler was unable or unwilling to promptly identify and remove this content, which coupled with an increase in this type of dangerous violent content, led to our suspension of their services.”The complaint cites internal emails to Parler executives from an Amazon official who “became increasingly inquisitive as to whether Parler’s CEO had heard whether that would occur in the wake of Facebook and Twitter banning the former President,” as the complaint puts it.Parler portrays its removal from AWS as an underhanded business tactic, alleging that Amazon and other tech giants were threatened by its advertising model.“[U]nlike AWS/Amazon, Twitter, Google and Facebook, Parler’s business model enabled it to obtain advertising revenues without the user surveillance necessary to target ads to users based upon personal information collected by the platform—a feature very attractive to many users and, hence, to advertisers seeking to reach them,” the suit says.The suit also points to the announcement of .“Given the context of Parler’s looming competitive threat to Twitter, as well as to AWS, Google, and Facebook, and given the fact that the Facebook and Twitter bans might not long muzzle the former President if he switched to Parler, potentially bringing tens of millions of followers with him, AWS moved to shut down Parler,” the complaint says.Parler seeks to portray the move as part of a broader pattern of anticompetitive behavior by Amazon.“AWS generates tens of billions of dollars in revenue annually for Amazon,” the complaint says. “And, when companies are this big, it’s easy to be a bully. Many start-up companies that have appeared to be a threat to Amazon and AWS have felt their wrath. Plaintiff Parler LLC is merely the latest casualty—a victim of Amazon’s efforts to destroy an up-and-coming technology company through deceptive, defamatory, anticompetitive, and bad faith conduct.”Parler using what it described as “sustainable, independent technology.” The company at the time , replacing co-founder John Matze, who said .Here’s the full text of the complaint.by on ScribdSubscribe to GeekWire's free newsletters to catch every headlineHave a scoop that you'd like GeekWire to cover? Let us know.Like what you're reading? Subscribe to GeekWire's free newsletters to catch every headlineMedBridgeResolution Bioscience, a part of AgilentMedBridgeUnited Way of King CountySan Jose State UniversityWestern Washington University - Computer Science DepartmentFind more jobs on . Employers, .

Trending:In-depth Amazon coverage from the tech giant’s hometown, including e-commerce, AWS, Amazon Prime, Alexa, logistics, devices, and more.Parler wasn’t ending its fight against Amazon Web Services last night when it its seeking to require the cloud giant to resume hosting its service.In , filed Tuesday afternoon in King County Superior Court in Seattle, the conservative social media platform alleges defamation, negligence, breach of contract, and a litany of other charges against Amazon. Parler says it has lost “tens of millions of current and prospective future users” and “hundreds of...

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Parler unleashes 15-count lawsuit on Amazon, alleging defamation, bullying and bias for Twitter

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