Parler CEO barred from platform backend amid Big Tech crackdown: 'We don't have any more access'
'They shut off our ability to work and our ability to even access our own code,' CEO says
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Upstart social media platform Parler has been restricted access to their own proprietary code in an attempt to block the continued development of the software, CEO John Matze told "Life, Liberty & Levin" in an interview Sunday night.
Parler was booted off Google Play and the Apple App Store following the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Soon after, Amazon Web Services disconnected Parler from its servers with just 24 hours notice. Parler is now suing Amazon in federal court.
PARLER CEO: NO INDICATION BIG TECH SHUTDOWN THREATS WERE 'DEADLY SERIOUS' UNTIL LAST MINUTE
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We are trying to get our services back up and running so at least we can access our code repositories, at least we can access our development and testing environment," Matze told host Mark Levin.
"You know, this is an indication to me that seems really strange if they believed that the social media itself was a problem, why do they shut off everything else too," Matze added. "They shut off our ability to work and our ability to even access our own code and work on that."
Matze explained that he was given "a very small window to download it all while we were, you know, experiencing a lot of growth. And so we tried to download what we could, but now we don't have any more access."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Amazon has said it told Parler repeatedly that content on the site violated the two companies' agreement. Suspension was a "last resort" to block access to violent content, Amazon Web Services said in a response to the Parler lawsuit, "including plans for violence to disrupt the impending Presidential transition."
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Parler is seeking a temporary restraining order to keep Amazon Web Services from blackballing Parler. It claims AWS is violating the Sherman Antitrust Act in the filing, pointing out that AWS has an agreement with competitor Twitter. Amazon has said that Parler demonstrated an "unwillingness and inability" to remove violent content from its site.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Matze said his company needs "to be able to spin up our servers so that we can get some information which requires our servers to be running to get," but that "they're preventing us from doing that at the moment."
Fox News' Charles Creitz contributed to this report.