Amazon, Google, Apple ditch chat app popular with Trump loyalists

SAN FRANCISCO: Amazon will suspend Parler, the tech giant confirmed, sending the social media network offline after it was banned by Apple and Google for allowing “threats of violence” in the wake of a deadly riot at the US Capitol.

The Parler social network has become a haven for conservatives who say they have been censored by other social media platforms.

It had soared in popularity in recent months, becoming the No. 1 free app on Apple’s App Store on Saturday after the much larger Twitter decided to permanently ban US President Trump from its platform for his role in inciting violence at the Capitol.

Messages of support for the Wednesday’s rioters along with calls for new demonstrations had flourished on the platform, leading Google to remove it from its app store on Friday, followed by Apple on Saturday.

Amazon then moved to wipe it from its cloud hosting Amazon Web Services, pushing it offline entirely. In a letter to Parler first published by Buzzfeed, Amazon said the network was not acting quickly enough against violent content on the platform.

“We’ve seen a steady increase in this violent content on your website, all of which violates our terms of service,” the letter, the contents of which were confirmed to AFP by Amazon, said.

Given the riot at the Capitol this week, the letter continued, there was a “serious risk that this type of content will further incite violence.”

It will suspend the account just before midnight Pacific Standard Time on Sunday .

As the group hosts Parler’s data on its cloud service, this should prevent it from functioning, at least temporarily. The founder of Parler, John Matz, confirmed the network would be unavailable “for up to a week”.