Judge denies Parler's request to have Amazon immediately restore its web service

A federal judge has denied Parler’s legal plea to force Amazon to  immediately restore web service to the social media app that has become a popular alternative to Twitter.

U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein, in Seattle, said Thursday she wasn’t dismissing Parler’s "substantive underlying claims" against Amazon, but said it fell short in demonstrating the need for an injunction forcing it back online, according to the Associated Press. 

Parler has become a popular alternative to Twitter, particularly among conservatives and followers of former President Trump, whose account was permanently suspended earlier this month for content that violated the social media giant’s rules. 

Amazon on Jan. 11 removed Parler from its web-hosting service, five days after the U.S. Capitol Building was breached, arguing in court filings that the suspension was a “last resort” to keep the app from being a repository for violent plans to disrupt the presidential transition, which occurred Jan. 20. 

Twitter has argued Parler had shown an “unwillingness and inability” to remove a slew of dangerous posts that called for the rape, torture and assassination of politicians, tech executives and many others.

Rothstein said she rejected "any suggestion that the public interest favors requiring AWS to host the incendiary speech that the record shows some of Parler’s users have engaged in." 

She also faulted Parler for providing "only faint and factually inaccurate speculation" about Amazon and Twitter colluding with one another to shut Parler down, the wire service also reports.