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Parler loses bid calling on Amazon to restore it

A U.S. judge on Thursday rejected a bid by Parler to be reinstated on Amazon Web Services.

Parler is the social media site and app popular with the American far right, and claims over 12 million users.

Citing its poor record of policing violent content, Amazon had given Parler the boot in light of the deadly January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, effectively knocking it offline.

That content included calls to assassinate prominent Democratic politicians, business executives and members of the media.

U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein refused to grant a preliminary injunction in Parler's lawsuit.

That injunction would've require Amazon to restore what she called the "abusive, violent content" found on Parler.

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The Capitol riots, she said, were a "tragic reminder that inflammatory rhetoric can... turn a lawful protest into a violent insurrection."

She added that it was unlikely to prove Amazon breached its contract or violated antitrust law by suspending the service.

In a statement, an Amazon spokeswoman welcomed the ruling, saying: "This was not a case about free speech. It was about a customer that consistently violated our terms of service."

Parler has argued there was no evidence apart from anecdotes in the press that it had a role in inciting the Capitol riots, and that it was unfair to deprive millions of law-abiding Americans a platform for free speech.

Parler was not immediately available for comment on Thursday's ruling.