The action by Apple and Amazon follows a similar move by
Alphabet Inc’s Google on Friday. Parler is favored by many supporters of U.S.
President Donald Trump, who was permanently suspended from Twitter on Friday,
and it is seen as a haven for people expelled from Twitter.
“We have suspended Parler from the App Store until they
resolve these issues,” Apple said in a statement Saturday.
Apple had earlier given Parler 24 hours to submit a detailed
moderation plan, pointing to participants’ using the service to coordinate
Wednesday’s siege of the U.S. Capitol.
Amazon’s move effectively takes the site offline unless it
can find a new company to host its services.
Amazon suspended Parler from its Amazon Web Services (AWS)
unit, for violating AWS’s terms of services by failing to effectively deal with
a steady increase in violent content, according to an email by an AWS Trust and
Safety team to Parler, seen by Reuters.
An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the letter was authentic.
Due to the “very real risk to public safety” that Parler
poses, AWS plans to suspend Parler’s account effective Sunday, at 11:59 p.m.
PST, the email seen by Reuters showed.
Parler Chief Executive John Matze lashed out at Amazon,
Google and Apple, saying it was a coordinated effort knowing Parler’s options
would be limited and it would inflict the most damage right as Trump was banned
from other social media platforms.
“There is the possibility Parler will be unavailable on
internet for up to a week as we rebuild from scratch,” he said in a post on
Parler.
“This was a coordinated attack by the tech giants to kill
competition in the marketplace... You can expect the war on competition and
free speech to continue, but don’t count us out.”
In addition to Parler, right-leaning social media users in
the United States have flocked to messaging app Telegram and hands-off social
site Gab, citing the more aggressive policing of political comments on
mainstream platforms such as Twitter Inc and Facebook Inc.
-Reuters