Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued civil investigative demands into some of Big Tech’s power players after companies such as Google and Apple dropped Parler, a social media app popular among conservatives, from their platforms.
Paxton, a Republican, issued CIDs to Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon Web Services, and Apple on Wednesday, according to a press release, “asking the companies for their policies and practices regarding content moderation and, more specifically, for information related to Parler, a social media application recently terminated or blocked by Google, Amazon, and Apple.”
“The seemingly coordinated deplatforming of the President of the United States and several leading voices not only chills free speech, it wholly silences those whose speech and political beliefs do not align with leaders of Big Tech companies,” said Paxton, who is being investigated by the FBI regarding allegations that he improperly used his office to shield a campaign donor from legal scrutiny and then fired three whistleblowers who made the report to law enforcement.
“Every American should be concerned about this large-scale silencing and the effects it will have on the future of free speech,” he added. “The public deserves the truth about how these companies moderate and possibly eliminate speech they disagree with.”
Apple, Amazon, and Google removed Parler from their platforms last week after pro-Trump protesters stormed the Capitol in a violent attack that left five dead and led to Trump being impeached for the second time on a charge of inciting insurrection.
“We have received numerous complaints regarding objectionable content in your Parler service, accusations that the Parler app was used to plan, coordinate, and facilitate the illegal activities in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021 that led (among other things) to loss of life, numerous injuries, and the destruction of property,” Apple wrote in an email to the social media company. “The app also appears to continue to be used to plan and facilitate yet further illegal and dangerous activities.”
Parler is currently engaged in a lawsuit with Amazon to regain access to its cloud-hosting services. Company CEO John Matze said that the company may not be able to recover from being deplatformed if the bans are not lifted soon.
“It’s hard to keep track of how many people are telling us that we can no longer do business with them,” Matze said.
The investigation follows an antitrust lawsuit filed by Paxton and nine other states against Google in December, arguing that the search engine “used its power to manipulate the market, destroy competition,” and harm consumers.
