Amazon Web Services Inc. has told the popular social media app Parler that it will no longer be able to use its cloud services because of a lack of content moderation on its platform.

Parler is an alternative to Twitter that’s popular with supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump, conspiracy theorists and right-wing extremists. Its parent company Parler Inc. markets the app as a “free speech” platform and an unbiased alternative to mainstream social networks.

The app has grown in popularity with Trump supporters in the wake of the deadly U.S. Capitol riot last week. Prominent Parler users include Republican lawmakers such as Congressman Devin Dunes and Senator Ted Cruz, as well as the prominent Trump supporter Lin Wood.

BuzzFeed reported Saturday that Amazon had informed Parler that it will no longer be able to use its cloud infrastructure starting at 11:59 p.m. PST today. Parler hosts its app and website on Amazon’s cloud, and the decision means the service could go offline if it’s unable to find a new hosting provider before the deadline passes.

Amazon’s decision to kick Parler off of its servers came just a day after Apple Inc. and Google LLC said they had blocked the app from their app stores, also citing a lack of content moderation.

After Wednesday’s riots inside the U.S. Capitol, Facebook and Twitter blocked a number of accounts that were accused of inciting violence relating to that incident, including those of Trump himself. Because of these moves, Parler quickly became the home for radical voices calling on armed “Patriots” to commit further violence in support of Trump.

Conservative militants on Parler had been calling for supporters to march on Washington D.C. with weapons in hand on Jan. 19.

Parler, apparently aware that this was too much even for an unbiased free speech platform, began taking steps to moderate some of its users. It acknowledged removing some posts from Wood, for example, including one that called for the execution of Vice President Mike Pence.

But in an email to Parler Chief Policy Officer Amy Peikoff, Amazon said it wasn’t satisfied with its attempts at moderating content on its platform and would “suspend Parler’s account” as a result.

“AWS provides technology and services to customers across the political spectrum, and we continue to respect Parler’s right to determine for itself what content it will allow on its site,” the AWS Trust and Safety team said in the email. “However, we cannot provide services to a customer that is unable to effectively identify and remove content that encourages or incites violence against others. Because Parler cannot comply with our terms of service and poses a very real risk to public safety, we plan to suspend Parler’s account effective Sunday, January 10th, at 11:59PM PST.”

Amazon later confirmed to media the email was authentic, but declined to comment further on its move.

The timing of Amazon’s decision to cut off Parler is interesting, however, because it shows that the company is no longer afraid of the potential reaction to its move by the current U.S. administration, Constellation Research Inc. analyst Holger Mueller told SiliconANGLE.

“That sheds a questionable light on this move, as many would argue that Amazon should have done this months before,” Mueller said.

The analyst said the issue raises another question around how much warning its customers should be given to ensure they are compliant with its policies on content moderation. “Established social networks like Facebook and Twitter have struggled with content moderation since years,” Mueller pointed out. “So we have to ask why did Amazon became the home of Parler in the first place?”

Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group told SiliconANGLE that in any case, Amazon probably didn’t have much choice but to kick Parler from its cloud infrastructure, as it could possibly be held liable for any crime against the state linked to the service. “They could also lose tons of customers that don’t want to be seen to use the same hosting service as Parler,” he added.

Twitter user @parlertakes later posted a statement from Parler Chief Executive John Matze, who told users the network could be offline for about a week. He said Parler needs to “rebuild from scratch” following its removal from AWS. “We will try our best to move to a new provider right now as we have many competing for our business,” he added.

Try as it might, Enderle said Parler would have trouble finding a new provider to host its infrastructure given the controversy it has attracted. “No one smart will touch Parler now,” he said.

Image: qimono/Pixabay