Parler, the social media platform popular with conservatives, could be offline longer than expected after a handful of Big Tech companies moved to take down the platform.
Amazon was the latest Big Tech company to shut down its operations with Parler, which the social media platform relied on for cloud computing power. The platform alternative to Twitter has been attacked for not doing enough to stop or block posts inciting violence in the aftermath of the attack on the Capitol last week.
Amazon told Parler that they would stop providing cloud services as the clock hit midnight on the West Coast Monday morning, according to CNBC.
Parler CEO John Matze previously said the website could be reconfigured and back online again come Monday, but he warned that if things went badly, it could take about a week. It appears that the latter will be more realistic given, as Matze claims, other partners dropped their support from the company following Apple, Amazon, and Google’s lead.
“We will likely be down longer than expected,” Matze wrote. “This is not due to software restrictions — we have our software and everyone’s data ready to go. Rather it’s that Amazon’s, Google’s, and Apple’s statements to the press about dropping our access has caused most of our other vendors to drop their support for us as well.”
Apple and Google also removed the Parler app from their platforms. Apple announced on Saturday that it was removing the app from its platform because Parler was not stopping the “threats of violence and illegal activity.” The Google Play Store announced it banned the app on Friday evening, saying, “In light of this ongoing and urgent public safety threat, we are suspending the app’s listings from the Play Store until it addresses these issues.”
Matze added, “Most people with enough servers to host us have shut their doors to us. We will update everyone and update the press when we are back online.”
Parler, founded in 2018, has branded itself as a beacon for free speech among conservatives as a result of supposed liberal biases from the more prominent social media platforms. However, that has gotten them into hot water, as they have been accused of not doing enough to stymie posts inciting violence.
The push against Parler comes in the aftermath of President Trump’s encouragement of his supporters to storm the Capitol and demand Congress not certify President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral victory. The swath of Trump supporters forced a lockdown and suspended the process for hours even though their objective failed. The pandemonium at the Capitol led to five deaths, including a law enforcement officer, countless injuries, and dozens of arrests, but only temporarily halted Congress before it certified the Electoral College votes for Biden.
In the aftermath of the Capitol Hill chaos, Twitter suspended Trump permanently and purged thousands of accounts for promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory. Both measures have created additional consternation from conservatories and intensified accusations of anti-conservative bias.
