Parler CEO John Matze has been forced into hiding with his family after receiving death threats.
“Matze himself, as the CEO of the company Amazon Web Services (AWS) continues to vilify, has had to leave his home and go into hiding with his family after receiving death threats and invasive personal security breaches,” a newly released court filing from Parler’s legal team reads.
The filing comes after Parler, a social media app popular with conservatives, filed an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon once the tech giant barred it from its platform in the wake of last week’s Capitol Hill riot.
Amazon dismissed the allegation of wrongdoing, claiming that the lawsuit has “no legal basis.” Amazon also claimed that its employees have been facing threats and harassment.
Parler’s filing acknowledges those claims but says that Parler employees are the ones suffering the harassment.
“Although AWS’s motion to seal focuses only on its own employees, Parler’s employees have been similarly harassed and threatened. … Parler’s CEO, John Matze, Jr., reports in his declaration in support of Parler’s TRO motion that many Parler employees are suffering harassment and hostility, fear for their safety and that of their families, and in some cases have fled their home state to escape persecution,” it read.
Earlier this week, Matze said on Fox News that he has been receiving threats and would take the necessary steps to ensure his family remained safe.
“There is a group called UGNazi that is targeting me,” Matze said. “They published my street address. They threatened to come through my front door.”
Parler was banned by Amazon, Apple, and Google following the Capitol Hill unrest last week after tech giants made the argument that Parler did not do enough to stop the spread of misinformation and calls for violence on its platform.
