A new court filing shows that Parler’s CEO John Matze and his family have gone into hiding after receiving death threats.
It says Amazon’s move to take Parler down and the open hostility directed at employees of both companies created a highly divisive dispute that warrants protection.
It further says Matze “has had to leave his home and go into hiding with his family after receiving death threats and invasive personal security breaches.”
For the safety of Amazon employees, the tech giant asked for their names to be redacted in the filing.
Matze said that “many Parler employees are suffering harassment and hostility, fear for their safety, and of their families, and in some cases have fled their home state to escape persecution.”
Parler has managed to get its website back up. It has a short message from Matze saying he welcomes users back soon. He added that Parler will not let civil discourse perish.
Another website AR15.com, a popular gun forum, was recently taken down by its web hosting service provider GoDaddy. GoDaddy said the website was inciting violence.
Pete Brownell, the owner of AR15.com, says the allegations are patently false. He said that the situation is “very Orwellian” and “like something you read about in a science fiction book from the 50s or 60s.”
