Parler files lawsuit against Amazon, seeking to restore web service

This illustration picture shows social media application logo from Parler displayed on a smartphone in Arlington, Virginia on July 2, 2020.

The messaging app Parler has been offline since Amazon set a deadline of 11:59 p.m. PST on Sunday and then suspended its account. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

Updated at 1:20 p.m. ET

Parler, the messaging app favored by far-right activists, has filed a lawsuit against Amazon Web Services alleging anti-trust and breach of contract. The company is seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent Amazon from removing Parler from its servers.

Amazon had told Parler it would suspend its account Sunday at 11:59 p.m. PST. The website has been offline since that deadline passed.

“Over the past several weeks, we’ve reported 98 examples to Parler of posts that clearly encourage and incite violence,” Amazon Web Services told a Parler representative on Saturday, according to court documents.

As an example, the web hosting service cited a message in which a Parler user commented on a photo from Wednesday’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, showing people cowering among seats in the gallery of the House chamber.

“Violence works,” the photo’s caption reads. “Make them afraid.” To that, the user added, “How bout make them hang?”

Amazon says Parler has shown that it doesn’t have an effective way to comply with the web service company’s terms of service, and is still forming an approach to content moderation.

“This morning, you shared that you have a plan to more proactively moderate violent content, but plan to do so manually with volunteers,” Amazon said on Saturday in an email to Parler’s chief policy officer, Amy Peikoff.

“It’s our view that this nascent plan to use volunteers to promptly identify and remove dangerous content will not work in light of the rapidly growing number of violent posts,” the company said.

Parler filed its lawsuit before U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein in the Western District of Washington. Rothstein was appointed to the federal bench by President Jimmy Carter in 1980.

The docket does not yet show a response from the judge or scheduled hearing. The case is Parler LLC v. Amazon Web Services, Inc., 2:21-cv-31.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Want a digest of WHYY’s programs, events & stories? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Together we can reach 100% of WHYY’s fiscal year goal