Parler, an alternative, conservative-friendly social media platform that skyrocketed in popularity after the 2020 election, has had a rollercoaster of a ride since then.
Shortly after the Capitol riots, Parler found itself in the crosshairs of Silicon Valley, with Apple, Google, and eventually Amazon Web Services eventually pulling the plug on the site, due to extremely misguided and some outright false claims that Parler was a sort of digital planning ground for the January 6 Capitol riots.
The company took the matter to federal court last week, hoping to convince a judge to compel Amazon to reinstate the website version of the app. Unfortunately, today, that effort was cleanly shot down in court.
Reuters has the story:
A federal judge on Thursday rejected Parler’s demand that Amazon.com Inc restore web hosting services for the social media platform, which Amazon had cut off following the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol.
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U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein in Seattle said Parler failed to show it was likely to prevail on the merits of its claims, or that the public interest supported a preliminary injunction requiring the restoration of service.
Amazon Web Services suspended Parler on Jan. 10.
It has said Parler violated its contract by ignoring repeated warnings to effectively address steady growth in violent content, including calls to assassinate prominent Democratic politicians, leading business executives and the media.
Parler said Amazon had no contractual right to pull the plug, and did so out of “political animus” to benefit Twitter Inc, a larger Amazon client that Parler said did not censor violent content targeting conservatives.
Many supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump favor Parler, which has claimed it had more than 12 million users.
There have been recent updates on the Parler homepage from the company’s CEO and other executives and investors, including Fox News contributor Dan Bongino.
“We will NEVER stop fighting. NEVER. This fight is bigger than me, and it’s bigger than Parler. If they’re allowed to silence us, they can silence anyone. It stops now. Please stand with us in this fight for liberty, truth and freedom,” he wrote in what appears to be a series of supporting posts defending the emerging social media platform.
The company also included a quote from Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a staunch defender of free speech and free markets.
“Competition is the surest means to preserving free speech. Everyone, left and right, should be horrified at Big Tech’s attempt to stamp out speech. I wish Parler and all other innovators success in keeping the marketplace of ideas open and uncensored,” Paul wrote.
Hopefully, Parler is able to eventually come back online in some way or form, but as it stands, it doesn’t look promising.
