Parler loses fight to force Amazon to restore service

A U.S. judge in Seattle has rejected a demand from Parler that Amazon.com restore web hosting services for the right-wing chat app, terminated after the January 6 assault on the Capitol.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein said Parler would not likely be able to prove that Amazon breached its contract, or violated antitrust law, when it suspended service to Parler on January 10, and that it was "not a close call."

From Reuters:

She also forcefully rejected the suggestion that the public interest would be served by a preliminary injunction requiring Amazon Web Services to "host the kind of abusive, violent content at issue in this case, particularly in light of the recent riots at the U.S. Capitol."

"That event," she added, "was a tragic reminder that inflammatory rhetoric can – more swiftly and easily than many of us would have hoped – turn a lawful protest into a violent insurrection."

Parler was not immediately available for comment.

"We welcome the court's careful ruling," an Amazon spokeswoman said in a statement. "This was not a case about free speech. It was about a customer that consistently violated our terms of service."

Amazon said Parler ignored repeated warnings to effectively moderate the growth on its website of violent content, which included calls to assassinate prominent Democratic politicians, leading business executives and members of the media.

More at Reuters.