‘We do not consider this freedom of expression’

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Apple chief Tim Cook said the posts on the right-wing social app Speak represented “incitement to violence” that justified his removal from the App Store.

In an interview to air on Fox News Sunday of Fox Broadcasting this Sunday (January 17), Cook told presenter Chris Wallace that Apple “has looked at the incitement to violence that was out there and … we don’t consider that. freedom of expression. “

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Asked by Wallace whether Apple’s start of Parler, which had become popular among Trump’s loyalists as an alternative to Twitter and Facebook, would only serve to drive users of the app “underground”, Cook replied, “Well , we just hung them up, Chris. And so, if they got their moderation together, they’d be back.

For now, the return of Parler to any Internet platform seems highly unlikely.

Apple on Saturday kicked Talking from its App Store, citing threats of violence and illegal activity on the app, after the deadly pro-Trump riot on the U.S. Capitol. “Parler has not taken adequate steps to address the proliferation of these threats to human security,” Apple said Jan. 9. Google had taken the same step to remove the Android app from Parler the day before.

Then on Sunday, Amazon’s AWS division pulled hosting services from Parler, with the e-commerce giant citing nearly 100 examples of violent threats to Parler.

Parler sued Amazon on Monday (complaint at this link), alleging that Amazon violated its contract and violated the Sherman Antitrust Act by claiming to collude with Twitter to shut down the app. Amazon, in a Jan. 12 court file (at this link), said: “This case is not about suppressing speech or stifling views. This is not a conspiracy to restrict trade. ”“ Rather, this case concerns Parler’s demonstrated reluctance and inability to remove content from Amazon Web Services (‘AWS’) servers that threatens the public security, for example by inciting and planning the rape, torture and murder of public officials and designated private citizens. “

In an interview with Reuters this week, Parler CEO John Matze admitted that the app may never get back online, saying: “It’s hard to know how many people are telling us we can’t do it anymore. deal with them. “

Before the app went dark, Matze, who briefly worked for Amazon’s AWS division, complained in posts on the app that tech companies were conspiring to blacklist Speak and he said. attacked “politically motivated companies and authoritarians who hate free speech”. Matze also said, “Most of the people on Parler are non-violent people who want to share their opinions, food photos and more.”

In the “Fox News Sunday” interview, Wallace challenged Cook, asking the CEO of Apple: “Doesn’t technology restrict free speech? Cook replied, “We have an app store that has around 2 million apps. And we have terms of service for those applications. We obviously don’t control what is on the internet, but we never saw that our platform should be a simple replication of the internet. We have rules and regulations, and we just ask people to obey them. (Watch excerpts from the interview here and here.)

A number of Parler users participated in the assault on the United States Capitol. After the app shutdown, a developer launched an interactive online map using GPS metadata and around 50 videos that were posted to Speak during the attack, Motherboard reported.

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