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Are there real antitrust questions here? If you get booted from AWS, you can always go to Azure or GCP, or Digital Ocean/Linode/Rackspace/etc. I believe there

Are there real antitrust questions here? If you get booted from AWS, you can always go to Azure or GCP, or Digital Ocean/Linode/Rackspace/etc. I believe there are real antitrust questions regarding Amazon but getting booted from AWS doesn’t seem to connect with any of them. Amazon does not compete with Parler. Seems like one of the funny things about the internet is that as “free” as it seems to be sometimes, there is no part of the internet that is really a public space. Everything on the internet is owned by somebody. There are no public roads, no sidewalks, no easements on the internet. If this were about a physical space like a store, you can get banned from the store but still protest outside on the sidewalk. If AWS were a “common carrier” then it would need strong justifications for banning customers. I don’t see any of these legal arguments playing out here.

npunt 6y ago
I'd imagine the case will be flimsy for the very reasons you bring up, but may be well-lawyered if Parler's funders (Mercers) have something out for Amazon. I'd much prefer important questions in society be brought up by the right people for the right reasons.
- ABeeSea 6y ago
  According to the law subreddit, Parler’s current legal representation for this suit consists of a single lawyer running a sole proprietorship. They are going to get buried in this case.
JulianMorrison 6y ago
It's clear that the broader problem for Parler is that they can't go to those other hosting providers either, because nobody wants their stinky business ruining the corporate image. Arguably that's the real boycott, not just being tossed off Amazon, but the fact that a very small number of companies have comparable infrastructure, and they're all saying no. But how do you litigate against being sent to Coventry?
- gnfargbl 6y ago
  Should you be able to litigate against being sent to Coventry? If a broad swathe of society finds you so objectionable or reputationally risky that they don't want to engage with you at all, then should there even be a recourse for that? There is really nothing stopping a "hosting for radical and extremists" cloud service from existing. In fact, it does exist, and it's named Epik. Their dedictated hosting prices look quite high to me, but that's just the free market in action.
tallanvor 6y ago
The antitrust argument is that Amazon shut them down to help Twitter, which is laughable.

npunt 6y ago

I'd imagine the case will be flimsy for the very reasons you bring up, but may be well-lawyered if Parler's funders (Mercers) have something out for Amazon. I'd much prefer important questions in society be brought up by the right people for the right reasons.

ABeeSea 6y ago
According to the law subreddit, Parler’s current legal representation for this suit consists of a single lawyer running a sole proprietorship. They are going to get buried in this case.

JulianMorrison 6y ago

It's clear that the broader problem for Parler is that they can't go to those other hosting providers either, because nobody wants their stinky business ruining the corporate image. Arguably that's the real boycott, not just being tossed off Amazon, but the fact that a very small number of companies have comparable infrastructure, and they're all saying no. But how do you litigate against being sent to Coventry?

gnfargbl 6y ago
Should you be able to litigate against being sent to Coventry? If a broad swathe of society finds you so objectionable or reputationally risky that they don't want to engage with you at all, then should there even be a recourse for that? There is really nothing stopping a "hosting for radical and extremists" cloud service from existing. In fact, it does exist, and it's named Epik. Their dedictated hosting prices look quite high to me, but that's just the free market in action.

tallanvor 6y ago

The antitrust argument is that Amazon shut them down to help Twitter, which is laughable.