On January 9, Amazon announced that it would suspend Parler from Amazon Web Services, effective at 11:59p.m. PST the next day. Echoing Google's rationale for dropping its version of the Parler app, Amazon said Parler's failure to police violent content made the site "a very real risk to public safety". Parler went offline when Amazon withdrew its cloud computing services as scheduled. On January 11, Parler sued Amazon under antitrust law, saying the suspension of services was "apparently motivated by political animus", and had been carried out with the intention of benefiting Twitter by reducing competition. U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein ruled in Amazon's favor ten days later. Parler also denied Amazon's claims that it failed to properly moderate content. On March 2, Parler withdrew a federal antitrust lawsuit they had filed against Amazon two months prior, but filed a new lawsuit against the company in state court. The new lawsuit alleged Amazon had breached terms in their contract and defamed Parler. Amid the lawsuit, in mid-April 2021, Amazon accused Parler of trying to conceal its ownership. On September 17, 2021, Seattle federal district Judge Barbara Rothstein approved Parler's request that its complaint against Amazon be heard in King County Superior Court.
