Parler CEO goes into hiding, blaming Amazon Flak and death threats

Photographer: Gabby Jones / Bloomberg

The general manager of Talking LLC says he went into hiding after receiving death threats.

John Matze Jr.’s social media platform was briefly the new home for conservative Donald Trump supporters who flocked there after Twitter banned the president. But Talking turned dark on Sunday after Apple Inc. and Google removed it from their app stores and Amazon.com Inc. has shut down its web hosting service, citing violent content that the e-commerce giant said played out in the Jan.6 riot on Capitol Hill.

“Many Parler employees suffer harassment and hostility, fear for their safety and that of their families, and in some cases have fled their home countries to escape persecution,” Matze’s lawyer said in Parler’s lawsuit to force Amazon. the Web Online delivery services of the platform. Matze had to “go into hiding with his family after receiving death threats and invasive personal security violations”. The CEO did not specify the source of the threats, but his attorney said in a file that Matze’s secret action was necessary because it had been brought to light “as the CEO of the AWS company continues to vilify “.

Matze’s move comes after Amazon said earlier this week that its employees had also been threatened – by Talking users. “Both sides of this dispute have shown that their employees have suffered real harassment and threats – including, on both sides, death threats – due to the accused nature of this litigation,” according to Parler’s filing, which was reported earlier by Fox News.

Learn more: Talking fails to get a quick reprieve with tech-new lawyer