Parler Goes Dark Following Amazon Web Services Suspension

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Social media platform Parler is now offline after Amazon Web Services suspended the site, claiming it lacks content moderation.

The Hill reports that social media website Parler has been taken offline after its hosting account was suspended by Amazon Web Services which claimed that the site failed to adequately moderate content on its platform.

In an email to Parler, Amazon stated: “Recently, we’ve seen a steady increase in this violent content on your website, all of which violates our terms. It’s clear that Parler does not have an effective process to comply with the AWS terms of service.”

The email added: “It also seems that Parler is still trying to determine its position on content moderation. You remove some violent content when contacted by us or others, but not always with urgency.”

Parler CEO John Matze said in a recent statement that the site could be offline for up to a week as it searches for a new web hosting provider. Speaking to Fox News early on Sunday, Matze stated:

It would put anybody out of business. I mean, this — they could destroy anybody. If they did this to any app, any company, it would completely destroy them.

And we’re going to try our best to get back online as quickly as possible, but we’re having a lot of trouble, because every vendor we talk to says they won’t work with us, because, if Apple doesn’t approve and Google doesn’t approve, they won’t.

Parler has also been removed from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Parler’s Chief Policy Officer Amy Peikoff told Fox & Friends Weekend:

We’re not necessarily being singled out by those tech companies, but certainly by the people who have been putting pressure on them and, in fact, we think we’re being set up in a lot of ways because in looking at some of the content, these are accounts that have been created two days ago and they have few pieces of content and some of them are parodies of what you would think a right-wing inciter of violence would be.

Peikoff went on to explain what she referred to as a “crucial question” about the continued operation of Parler, stating: “Do we want all of the content that is posted online, every single piece to be scanned for ‘objectionable content,’ as they call it, 24/7 and also removed without due process if it’s flagged by an algorithm because that seems to be the standard that Parler is being told that we must adhere to.”

Breitbart Tech has reported extensively on the de-platforming of conservative social media and President Trump, read more here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com

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