The social media app Parler is suing Amazon. Over the weekend, Amazon Web Services took Parler offline. Amazon said Parler didn’t do enough to curb violent threats.
Amazon is the world’s largest cloud provider. Parler says other options have fallen through — that without Amazon, it will be out of business.
Parler has been a gathering place for conservatives like Sean Hannity and Ben Shapiro.
Google and Apple banned Parler’s app from their app stores. Twitter and Facebook removed President Trump from their platforms.
Conservative host Ben Shapiro said, “The entire tech infrastructure is now mobilizing in order to take conservative outlets off the air. In order to ensure conservative websites no longer appear, here's the thing, they may not be doing it right this second, but they have now set the predicate that they can do it whenever they want.”
Is this a reasonable reaction to last week’s insurrection? Or do tech companies have too much power to silence speech they don’t like?