Amazon, Apple Join In Moves Against Parler, Citing Extremist Content And Association With Capitol Riots

Parler, the conservative alternative to Twitter Inc TWTR and Facebook Inc, FB continues to see itself cut off from major tech services.

What Happened: Saturday night, Apple Inc AAPL and Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN discontinued services to Parler. Apple removed it from its App Store, and Amazon stopped providing cloud hosting services through Amazon Web Services.

Parler had risen to the No. 1 most-downloaded spot in the App Store in the days prior to the removal, as Twitter cracked down similarly on right-wing extremist content.

Amazon employees earlier in the day had demanded the move, saying they did not want to be associated with a platform that had been used by organizers of Wednesday's riots at the U.S. Capitol. 

Why It Matters: The moves add to a steady stream of moves among companies seeking to distance themselves from violent content on Parler. On Friday, Twitter permanently removed Donald Trump's account because of his involvement in inciting the riot, and Alphabet Inc. GOOGL GOOG removed Parler from its Google Play store.  

Apple sent a letter to Parler prior to the removal from the App Store, warning it of discontinued service if better content moderation wasn't implemented within 24 hours. Apple found Parler's subsequent response lacking.

Parler Chief Executive John Matze said Parler may be down for a week as the moves, especially that of Amazon, hobble the technical underpinnings of the site.

Rebekah Mercer, daughter of hedge fund manager Robert Mercer and a backer of conservative causes, is reportedly an investor in Parler.