Federal judge cites U.S. Capitol breach in denial of Parler’s initial motion for reinstatement on AWS
January 22, 2021 at 10:27 pm
A federal judge in Seattle has denied an initial attempt by Parler to require Amazon Web Services to restore cloud services to the controversial social network, referencing the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol as one of the factors in the decision.
“The Court explicitly rejects any suggestion that the balance of equities or the public interest favors obligating AWS to host the kind of abusive, violent content at issue in this case, particularly in light of the recent riots at the U.S. Capitol,” wrote U.S. District Judge Barbara Jacobs Rothstein in the ruling Thursday afternoon. “That event was a tragic reminder that inflammatory rhetoric can — more swiftly and easily than many of us would have hoped — turn a lawful protest into a violent insurrection.”