Parler loses bid to have service restored by Amazon

New York: A federal judge on Thursday rejected Parler's demand that Amazon.com Inc. restore web hosting services for the social media platform, which the company had cut off following the storming of the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.

US 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 10 January.


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 US President Donald Trump favour Parler, which has claimed it had more than 12 million users.

Parler did not immediately respond to a request for comment.