“Parler has submitted no evidence that AWS and Twitter acted together intentionally — or even at all — in restraint of trade”

The system is rigged.

Steve Watson reports:

A federal judge has rejected a request by Parler, the free speech Twitter alternative, to have its hosting restored by Amazon.

Parler’s entire website was hosted on Amazon servers (AWS) and was wiped from the internet amid claims of allowing incitement to violence in the wake of the Capitol breech on January 6th.

Supporters of President Trump and other advocates of free speech flocked to the platform as a protest against big-tech censorship.

“Parler has failed to do more than raise the specter of preferential treatment of Twitter by AWS,” wrote Rothstein, labelling Parler’s claims as “faint and factually inaccurate speculation.”

The judge further noted “The evidence it has submitted in support of the claim is both dwindlingly slight, and disputed by AWS. Importantly, Parler has submitted no evidence that AWS and Twitter acted together intentionally — or even at all — in restraint of trade… Indeed, Parler has failed to do more than raise the specter of preferential treatment of Twitter by AWS.”

Parler is claiming that Amazon is in breach of contract, and that Amazon removed services “motivated by political animus”, and as a way of benefitting Twitter, which is also set to be hosted by Amazon Web Services.

However, the judge said that “Parler has failed to allege basic facts that would support several elements of this claim.”

The judge continued “Most fatally, as discussed above, it has failed to raise more than the scantest speculation that AWS’s actions were taken for an improper purpose or by improper means … To the contrary, the evidence at this point suggests that AWS’s termination of the CSA was in response to Parler’s material breach.”

Parler is arguing that Twitter has failed to censor violent content, but has not been treated in the same way.

Amazon has stated that there is “no merit to these claims.”

Jesse Kelly

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