Parler is suing Amazon, alleging antitrust violations, after the e-commerce giant banned the far-right social-media app from AWS

• Parler, a social-media platform popular among the far right, is suing Amazon, alleging antitrust violations.
• Amazon said over the weekend that it would ban Parler from using Amazon Web Services because it did not effectively moderate threats of violence on its platform.
• Parler's lawsuit alleged that Amazon's decision was politically motivated and anticompetitive since it did not take similar action against Twitter, which also uses AWS.
• Parler, which touts itself as being committed to free speech and has few moderation policies, has become a favorite website of many on the right.
• After pro-Trump rioters stormed the US Capitol on Wednesday, many people are considering the role of tech companies in giving platforms to those seeking to incite violence.

Parler, the social-media service popular among the far right, filed a lawsuit against Amazon on Monday, alleging antitrust violations.

Over the weekend, Amazon knocked Parler off its cloud-hosting service, saying Parler failed to moderate threats of violence following last week's deadly siege of the US Capitol.

Parler alleged that Amazon's decision was politically motivated and breached a contract that entails Amazon Web Services supporting posts published on Parler. The lawsuit said AWS was required to give Parler a 30-day notice before terminating service.

It also alleged that Amazon's action was anticompetitive since it didn't take similar action against Twitter, which also uses AWS.

"AWS's decision to effectively terminate Parler's account is apparently motivated by political animus," Parler's lawsuit said. "It is also apparently designed to reduce competition in the microblogging services market to the benefit of Twitter."

The suit is seeking a temporary restraining order against AWS to prevent the service from shutting down Parler's account at the end of Monday.

In a statement shared with Insider, Amazon said there is "no merit to these claims" and that it informed Parler of its concerns around increasing violence over the course of a few weeks. However, it said it saw a "significant increase," not decrease, in "dangerous content."

"It is clear that there is significant content on Parler that encourages and incites violence against others, and that Parler is unable or unwilling to promptly identify and remove this content, which is a violation of our terms of service," Amazon said.

Last Wednesday, pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol while lawmakers were certifying the result of the presidential election. Congress later confirmed President-elect Joe Biden's win.

President Donald Trump's tweets during and after the siege in which he continued to spread more election misinformation prompted Twitter and permanently suspend him and Facebook to suspend him until at least Inaugration Day,

Those on the right have long accused social-media companies like Twitter of discriminating against conservatives by doing things like adding warning labels and fact-checks to posts.

Since Trump was booted, smaller far-right social networks like Parler and Gab have gained popularity. Parler, which touts itself as being committed to free speech and has few moderation policies, jumped to the No. 1. spot on Apple's App Store. Gab said on Saturday that it was gaining 10,000 new users every hour.

Apple and Google have banned these sites over hate-speech violations, and Parler could be offline for up to a week following AWS's shutdown.