Parler has lost an early bid to force Amazon.com Inc. to resume providing web-hosting services for the social network.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein denied Parler’s motion for a preliminary injunction Thursday, writing in a 14-page ruling that the company didn’t meet the threshold for granting such a request. However the judge ruled that the court wasn’t yet dismissing Parler’s underlying claims against Amazon.
Parler sued Amazon on Jan. 11, claiming the tech giant kicked the social network off its servers for political and anticompetitive reasons.
Amazon denied those claims, saying it terminated the relationship because it found several instances of violent content on Parler in violation of its terms of service. One example Amazon identified from a post in early December said: “My wishes for a racewar have never been higher. I find myself thinking about killing n—s and jews more and more often.”
Judge Rothstein wrote Parler offered “faint and factually inaccurate speculation” to support its claim that Amazon violated federal antitrust law. The judge also wrote that Amazon has no obligation to host violent content, particularly in light of the U.S. Capitol riot earlier this month.
