- Amazon is removing the fast-growing social media network Parler from its web hosting service, according to an email obtained by BuzzFeed News. Amazon confirmed the authenticity of the letter to Insider.
- Amazon Web Services said Parler violated its terms of service due to an increase in violent content shared on the website.
- Unless Parler is able to find an alternative hosting platform, the website will go offline Sunday night.
- The move comes after Google and Apple banned the Parler app from their app stores, also for violating policies by failing to remove violent content.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Amazon is removing the fast-growing social media network Parler from its web hosting service, according to an email obtained by BuzzFeed News. Amazon confirmed the authenticity of the letter to Insider.
In the email, Amazon Web Services said Parler violated its terms of service due to an increase in violent content shared on the website. Amazon said it “cannot provide services to a customer that 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 10th, at 11:59PM PST,” the email said.
Unless Parler is able to find an alternative hosting platform, the website will go offline Sunday night.
Parler CEO John Matze confirmed Amazon’s decision in a post on the platform, saying its possible Parler will be offline for “up to a week.”
“We will try our best to move to a new provider right now as we have many competing for our business, however Amazon, Google and Apple purposefully did this as a coordinated effort knowing our options would be limited,” he said.
Google and Apple banned the Parler app from their app stores this week also for violating policies by failing to remove violent content.
Parler did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
Amazon’s decision came amid calls by some of its employees for the company to stop providing cloud services to Parler, after some right-wing extremists used the site to plan the deadly siege at the US Capitol earlier this week.
In the email obtained by BuzzFeed, Amazon said it does not think Parler’s plan to moderate violent content manually with volunteers will work.
“This is further demonstrated by the fact that you still have not taken down much of the content that we’ve sent you,” the email said.
BuzzFeed shared screenshots of violent content on Parler that was included in Amazon’s email.
In one Parler post that included a photo of lawmakers taking cover during the Capitol riots, the user wrote: “How bout make them hang?”
Another screenshot showed a post that said “we need to start systemically assassinating #liberal leaders,” among others.
Parler became popular in recent months among supporters of President Donald Trump and members of the far right due to its lack of moderation.
Top conservative figures recently announced they would be moving to the Parler app and encouraged others to do the same, after Trump was banned from Twitter on Friday.
