Culture
Parler has already given up on its lawsuit against Amazon
Less than two months after firing back at Amazon, Parler has filed a motion to dismiss its case.
Parler has filed a motion to dismiss its case against Amazon for dropping it from its web hosting services. The company’s decision to give up on the lawsuit comes less than two months after it was originally filed.
Parler filed the motion last night to dismiss its case in Seattle’s U.S. District Court without fanfare; the company has made no mention as to why the case is being dropped or whether or not it plans to try similar legal tactics in the future. As The Verge notes, Parler was actually expected to file an amended complaint in the case today, after requesting a two-week extension on a February 16 deadline.
The reason for Parler’s sudden disinterest in its case against Amazon is unclear — but it’s also not all that important. Parler is back online, thanks to web hosting from a small company called SkySilk. Our best guess is that being operational again has diminished the flames of its anger somewhat.
They never had a case anyway — Parler’s lawsuit against Amazon was built on spite and very little actual evidence. Amazon first removed Parler from its web hosting services on January 9, in the wake of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. At the time, Amazon wrote that Parler was getting the boot for being unable to “effectively identify and remove content that encourages or incites violence against others.” Which, yes, is true.
Because Parler explicitly broke Amazon’s terms of service, the alt network really didn’t have a leg to stand on in court. An initial pushback from Parler was met with disdain from a federal judge, who ruled a few weeks after the ban that Amazon was well within its rights to do so. Parler’s extreme take on “free speech” ended up being its downfall.
Just like we never said goodbye — Parler is back online and harder to look at than ever. All the site’s content from before the Amazon ban has been lost to the void, but somehow Parler is already overwhelmingly filled with obscure conspiracies and hate speech.
As if browsing the site weren’t already difficult enough, it’s made even harder by the Parler app no longer being available on either Apple’s App Store or the Google Play store. For now, though, Parler is once again online to provide a home for all the drivel companies like Twitter won't stand for. If you can even find it, that is; the site's search function is just as broken as ever.
