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Amazon (AMZN) was the victim of a lawsuit Monday by conservative social media app Speak over its decision to block the start of Amazon Web Services (AWS) – and at least one AWS competitor would not pass moral judgment on it hosting of Parler’s content on its servers.
Amazon’s policies, and the policies of other tech giants that blocked Talk after millions of President Donald Trump’s supporters rushed to the startup, contrast with those adopted by that Zurich-based competitor, CloudSigma. , according to its CEO, Robert Jenkins.
“I don’t like the idea … of the company creating their own kind of taste beliefs and deciding what’s okay and what’s not okay,” Jenkins said. “You end up putting yourself in this position where you’re trying to be judge and jury on something, as a hosting provider.”
According to Parler’s complaint, AWS effectively shut down Parler’s online platforms on Sunday by suspending its account from the only servers carrying its content. With less than 30 hours notice, Parler said, Amazon took its microblogging platform offline, violating its service contract, interfering with contracts between Parler and its users, and violating antitrust law.
“AWS’s decision to effectively shut down the Talking account is apparently motivated by political animosity,” says the lawsuit filed in Seattle Federal District Court. “It is also apparently designed to reduce competition in the market for microblogging services for the benefit of Twitter.”
Parler CEO John Matze told Fox News that immediately migrating data from the platform to another vendor would be “fundamentally impossible, especially given the growing difficulty of finding another hosting company that would doing business with it after Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG, (GOOGL)) removed Speak from their respective app stores. Tech giants have severed ties with Speak over its ties to a violent siege on Capitol Hill conducted to challenge the presidential election results.
Despite its popularity, Matze said it has already been turned down by several companies capable of serving as alternative hosts.
“Technically, finding a solution is one thing; politically it’s something else, ”says Jenkins, whose company competes with AWS in the hosting and vertical infrastructure markets, in countries like the US, UK, Switzerland, Japan, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines.
For its part, Jenkins said, CloudSigma does not judge what is “acceptable” for the platform, and instead bases its services on whether, within the company’s jurisdiction, its content violates the law. “We have our own personal opinions, like everyone else, but we are not going to force this on the user base,” he said, adding that the company was counting on law enforcement to prosecute. illegal behavior of a user. “So our approach is very clear, and for me that’s the only defensible position, because you basically trust local cultural norms – which is acceptable in law.”
In a statement sent to Yahoo Finance, an Amazon spokesperson said the lawsuit lacked merit and that AWS served clients from all political backgrounds. “However, it is clear that there is significant content on Speaking that encourages and incites violence against others,” the spokesperson said, “and that Speaking is unable or unwilling to identify and promptly remove this. content, which is a violation of our terms of service. “
Talking “does not condone or accept violence on our platform,” Matze said in a statement quoted by Politico. In its lawsuit, the company criticized AWS for imposing a double standard by continuing to host the Twitter platform despite user content calling for “Hang Mike Pence.”
Jenkins said he was surprised Parler didn’t build its platform on multiple cloud service providers to prevent technical or deliberate shutdowns of AWS. Given the controversial nature of the platform, another solution could be for Parler to buy its own servers, according to Jenkins.
Several experts told Yahoo Finance this week that Parler’s antitrust claim is likely to fail, although Amazon faces continued antitrust scrutiny from U.S. regulators in its online marketplace as well as its service business. cloud. The merit of Parler’s breach of contract claims will depend on the content of the agreements between the two companies.
“In these well-functioning societies in which we operate, it is not for us to decide the rules. It’s provided by the legal framework, and by the government and the people who vote, ”Jenkins said. “And you know, if they don’t like something, they can vote to make it illegal. Cut back on freedom of speech and we will enforce it. “
Yahoo Finance has requested comment from Parler’s legal counsel and will update this story if it receives a response.
Alexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance and a former litigation lawyer.
Follow Alexis Keenan on Twitter @alexiskweed.
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