Big Tech censorship is becoming a huge problem in America. After booting President Trump off their platforms, Twitter, Facebook and others have a stranglehold on speech in the country.
They’re run by progressive Silicon Valley guys and they reflect exactly that worldview.
But Parler and its CEO John Matze wanted to provide an alternative: a place for chat and social sharing that’s open to everyone including conservatives.
What happened, unfortunately, is that they were met with censorship and violence.
Parler CEO in Hiding
Matze and his family have fled and gone into hiding after being repeatedly insulted in the mainstream media and blamed for the violence of a few Trump supporters on Capitol Hill. This led to death threats and them fearing for their lives.
No further details have been released on where they are hiding or how long they will have to do so, but it’s clear that Matze has received credible threats that were serious enough for him to take action and get his whole family out of public view.
Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) denial of service to Parler and their negative portrayal of Matze are part of what led to the death threats, according to Matze’s lawyers. Parler recently filed an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon for its unfair monopoly, leading to the giant company going after their reputation and business.
Wow: Parler CEO John Matze has fled his home with his family and they all have gone into hiding after receiving "deaths threats" and "invasive personal security breaches," according to a new filing from Parler's lawyers in the suit with AWS. pic.twitter.com/pRSbkCPWIu
— Bobby Allyn (@BobbyAllyn) January 16, 2021
According to Amazon, Parler’s antitrust lawsuit is without legal basis, and it says that Amazon staff have also been getting threats and abusive calls and messages.
“Although AWS’s motion to seal focuses only on its own employees, Parler’s employees have been similarly harassed and threatened,” reads the legal document from Parler’s team of lawyers.
“Parler’s CEO, John Matze, Jr., reports in his declaration in support of Parler’s TRO motion that many Parler employees are suffering harassment and hostility, fear for their safety and that of their families, and in some cases have fled their home state to escape persecution.”
The Threat to Free Speech
Matze said he and his family have gone into hiding to stay safe, particularly from a certain leftist group that is trying to harass and harm them called UGNazi.
“They published my street address. They threatened to come through my front door,” Matze explained.
After Parler was kicked off Amazon, Apple and Google last week there are very few real options left for conservatives in terms of social media other than places like Gab. According to those companies, Parler wasn’t adequately working to stop violent comments from being posted on its site.
The problem is that Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter and all the progressive-run platforms frequently do nothing to get rid of violent threats from left-wing people and figures all over their platforms. The list of examples is almost endless.
Pointing the Finger
Before Big Tech points the finger at Parler for supposedly allowing violent speech, it should clean up its own house.
There’s definitely an argument to be made for platforms kicking off anyone who incites violence, but for the companies with a complete chokehold on the market to use that to exclude companies whose politics they don’t like is very un-American and wrong.
If Parler was the majority tech giant and doing it to Twitter it would be wrong, too. All platforms should work to improve their services and offer alternatives to those with various points of view. Failure to do so is only going to increase the frustration and polarization that’s currently occurring as people feel like their voices aren’t welcome and aren’t being heard in the public square.
