Parler LLC v. Amazon Web Services Inc

Filing 1

COMPLAINT against defendant(s) Amazon Web Solutions, Inc. (Receipt # AWAWDC-6862856) Attorney David J Groesbeck added to party Parler LLC(pty:pla), filed by Parler LLC. (Attachments: #1 Exhibit Correspondence from Defendant to Plaintiff, #2 Exhibit Defendant's Customer Agreement, #3 Summons, #4 Civil Cover Sheet)(Groesbeck, David)

Case 2:21-cv-00031-BJR Document 1 Filed 01/11/21 Page 1 of 19

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David J. Groesbeck
WSBA No. 24749
David J. Groesbeck, P.S.
1716 Sylvester St. SW
Olympia, Washington 98501
Tel.: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON

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AT SEATTLE

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PARLER LLC,

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v.

Plaintiff,

No. ______________________

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AMAZON WEB SERVICES, INC.,

VERIFIED COMPLAINT

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Defendant

(JURY DEMAND REQUESTED)

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VERIFIED COMPLAINT - 1

David J. Groesbeck, P.S.
Attorney and Counselor
1716 Sylvester St. SW
Olympia, Washington 98501
[phone]

Case 2:21-cv-00031-BJR Document 1 Filed 01/11/21 Page 2 of 19

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Plaintiff Parler LLC (“Parler”), by its undersigned counsel, alleges, and by
its Chief Operating Officer, verifies, as follows:

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NATURE OF THE ACTION

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1.

This is a civil action for injunctive relief, including a temporary

restraining order and preliminary injunctive relief, and damages. Last Month,
Defendant Amazon Web Services, Inc. (“AWS”) and the popular social media
platform Twitter signed a multi-year deal so that AWS could support the daily
delivery of millions of tweets. AWS currently provides that same service to Parler,
a conservative microblogging alternative and competitor to Twitter.

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2.

When Twitter announced two evenings ago that it was permanently

banning President Trump from its platform, conservative users began to flee

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Twitter en masse for Parler. The exodus was so large that the next day, yesterday,
Parler became the number one free app downloaded from Apple’s App Store.
3.

Yet last evening, AWS announced that it would suspend Parler’s

account effective Sunday, January 10th, at 11:59 PM PST. And it stated the reason
for the suspension was that AWS was not confident Parler could properly police its
platform regarding content that encourages or incites violence against others.
However, Friday night one of the top trending tweets on Twitter was “Hang Mike

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Pence.” But AWS has no plans nor has it made any threats to suspend Twitter’s
account.

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VERIFIED COMPLAINT - 2

David J. Groesbeck, P.S.
Attorney and Counselor
1716 Sylvester St. SW
Olympia, Washington 98501
[phone]

Case 2:21-cv-00031-BJR Document 1 Filed 01/11/21 Page 3 of 19

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4.

AWS’s decision to effectively terminate Parler’s account is apparently

motivated by political animus. It is also apparently designed to reduce competition

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in the microblogging services market to the benefit of Twitter.
5.

Thus, AWS is violating Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act in

combination with Defendant Twitter. AWS is also breaching it contract with
Parler, which requires AWS to provide Parler with a thirty-day notice before
terminating service, rather than the less than thirty-hour notice AWS actually
provided. Finally, AWS is committing intentional interference with prospective
economic advantage given the millions of users expected to sign up in the near

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future.
6.

This emergency suit seeks a Temporary Restraining Order against

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Defendant Amazon Web Services to prevent it from shutting down Parler’s account
at the end of today. Doing so is the equivalent of pulling the plug on a hospital
patient on life support. It will kill Parler’s business—at the very time it is set to
skyrocket.

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JURISDICTION AND VENUE

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7.

This Court has subject matter jurisdiction over Parler’s federal

antitrust claims under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1337, as well as under 15 U.S.C. §

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26. The Court has supplemental jurisdiction over Parler’s state law claims under
28 U.S.C. § 1367.

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VERIFIED COMPLAINT - 3

David J. Groesbeck, P.S.
Attorney and Counselor
1716 Sylvester St. SW
Olympia, Washington 98501
[phone]

Case 2:21-cv-00031-BJR Document 1 Filed 01/11/21 Page 4 of 19

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8.

This Court has personal jurisdiction over AWS as it is headquartered

in the District. Also, AWS has engaged in sufficient minimum contacts with the

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United States and has purposefully availed itself of the benefits and protections of
both United States and Washington law such that exercise of jurisdiction over AWS
would comport with due process requirements.
9.

Venue lies in this District under 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b) because AWS

maintains its principal place of business in the State of Washington and in this
District, and because a substantial part of the events giving rise to Parler’s claims
occurred in this District. Personal jurisdiction and venue may also be deemed

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proper under 15 U.S.C. § 22, because AWS may be found in or transacts business
in this District.

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PARTIES

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10.

Plaintiff Parler LLC is a Nevada limited liability corporation with its

principal place of business in Henderson, Nevada. Parler is “the solution to
problems that have surfaced in recent years due to changes in Big Tech policy
influenced

by

various

special-interest

groups.”

Our

Company,

https://company.parler.com. Thus, “Parler is built upon a foundation of respect for
privacy and personal data, free speech, free markets, and ethical, transparent

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corporate policy.” Id.

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VERIFIED COMPLAINT - 4

David J. Groesbeck, P.S.
Attorney and Counselor
1716 Sylvester St. SW
Olympia, Washington 98501
[phone]

Case 2:21-cv-00031-BJR Document 1 Filed 01/11/21 Page 5 of 19

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11.

Defendant Amazon Web Services, Inc., an Amazon.com, Inc.

company, is a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Seattle,

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Washington. AWS is the world’s leading cloud service providers, capturing a third
of the global market. See Global Cloud Infrastructure Market Q3 2020,
https://www.canalys.com/newsroom/worldwide-cloud-market-q320. This is almost
double the next largest competitor, and equal to the next three largest competitors
combined. Id. AWS generates tens of billions of dollars in revenue annually. Id.
12.

According to its own press release, “[f]or 14 years, [AWS] has been the

world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform.” Twitter Selects

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AWS as Strategic Provider to Serve Timelines, Press Center, Amazon, (Dec. 15,
2020), https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/twitter-

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selects-aws-strategic-provider-serve-timelines.

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why

“[m]illions

of

government agencies—trust AWS to power their infrastructure, become more agile,
and lower costs.” Id. In short, AWS is the Rolls Royce of cloud platform providers.
FACTS

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is

customers—including the fastest-growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading

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That

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Parler contracts with AWS to provide the cloud computing services

Parler needs for its apps and website to function on the internet. Further, that both
the apps and the website are written to work with AWS’s technology. To have to

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switch to a different service provider would require rewriting that code, meaning

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VERIFIED COMPLAINT - 5

David J. Groesbeck, P.S.
Attorney and Counselor
1716 Sylvester St. SW
Olympia, Washington 98501
[phone]

Case 2:21-cv-00031-BJR Document 1 Filed 01/11/21 Page 6 of 19

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Parler will be offline for a financially devastating period.

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14.

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Parler is also a competitor of Twitter as both provide a similar

platform for users to communicate with short messages, links, and pictures. Like

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many social media platforms, Parler’s business model is not based on subscription
fees.

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15.

Less than a month ago, AWS announced with a press release a new

multi-year deal with Twitter. AWS will “provide global cloud infrastructure to
deliver Twitter timelines.” Twitter Selects AWS as Strategic Provider to Serve
Timelines,

Press

Center,

Amazon,

(Dec.

15,

2020),

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https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/twitterselects-aws-strategic-provider-serve-timelines.

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According to the deal, “Twitter will leverage AWS’s proven

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infrastructure and portfolio of services to support delivery of millions of daily
Tweets.” Id. Further, “[t]his expansion onto AWS marks the first time that Twitter
is leveraging the public cloud to scale their real-time service.” Id. This deal “buil[t]
on the companies’ more than decade-long collaboration, where AWS continues to
provide Twitter with storage, compute, database, and content delivery services to

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support its distribution of images, videos and ad content.” Id. What is more,

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together “Twitter and AWS will create an architecture that extends Twitter’s on-

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VERIFIED COMPLAINT - 6

David J. Groesbeck, P.S.
Attorney and Counselor
1716 Sylvester St. SW
Olympia, Washington 98501
[phone]

Case 2:21-cv-00031-BJR Document 1 Filed 01/11/21 Page 7 of 19

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premises infrastructure to enable them to seamlessly run and scale the real-time

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service globally, increase its reliability . . ., and rapidly move new features into

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production around the world.” Id.

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At the same time, Parler began to significantly increase its usership

at the expense of Twitter. After the election in November, the New York Times
reported that “millions have migrated to alternative social media and media sites
like Parler . . . .” Mike Isaac & Kellen Browning, Fact-Checked on Facebook and
Twitter, Some Conservatives Switch Their Apps, NY Times (Nov. 18, 2020),
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/11/technology/parler-rumble-newsmax.html. In

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fact, less than a week after Election Day, between November 3rd and November
8th, Parler’s app experienced nearly one million downloads. See Parler, A

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Conservative Twitter Clone, Has Seen Nearly 1 Million Downloads Since Election
Day,

The

Verge

(Nov.

9,

2020),

https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/9/21557219/parler-conservative-app-downloadnew-users-moderation-bias. This resulted in Parler rocketing to be “the #1 free app
in the iOS App Store, up from #1,023” just a week earlier. Id. Likewise, in that
same week the Parler app went from 486th to 1st in the Google Play rankings. Id.
Not surprisingly, “the app was the 10th most downloaded social media app in 2020

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with 8.1 million new installs.” Jonathan Schieber, Parler Jumps to No. 1 on App
Store after Facebook and Twitter Ban Trump, TechCrunch (Jan. 9, 2021),

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VERIFIED COMPLAINT - 7

David J. Groesbeck, P.S.
Attorney and Counselor
1716 Sylvester St. SW
Olympia, Washington 98501
[phone]

Case 2:21-cv-00031-BJR Document 1 Filed 01/11/21 Page 8 of 19

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https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/09/parler-jumps-to-no-1-on-app-store-after-

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facebook-and-twitter-bans/.

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18.

In 2021, this trend not only continued, it accelerated, thanks to

Twitter’s announcement two days ago that it would permanently ban President
Trump from its platform. Id. On that day, last Friday, Parler saw installs increase
in the United States by 355%. Id. After Twitter’s announcement, conservative
politicians and media figures began encouraging their followers to switch to Parler.
See Yelena Dzhanova, Top Conservative Figures are Tweeting to Advertise their
Parler Accounts After Trump was Permanently Banned from Twitter, Business

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Insider (Jan. 9, 2021), https://www.businessinsider.com/top-conservatives-movingto-parler-after-trumps-ban-from-twitter-2021-1. See also Joseph A. Wulfsohn,

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Conservatives Flee to Parler Following Twitter’s Permanent Suspension of Trump,
Fox News (Jan. 9, 2021), https://www.foxnews.com/media/conservatives-joinparler-twitter-trump-ban.
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Speculation began to mount that President Trump would likewise

move to Parler. Id. Given the close to 90 million followers the President had on
Twitter, this would be an astronomical boon to Parley and a heavy blow to Twitter.
See Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) Twitter Statistics, Socialbakers,

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https://www.socialbakers.com/statistics/twitter/profiles/detail/25073877realdonaldtrump.

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VERIFIED COMPLAINT - 8

David J. Groesbeck, P.S.
Attorney and Counselor
1716 Sylvester St. SW
Olympia, Washington 98501
[phone]

Case 2:21-cv-00031-BJR Document 1 Filed 01/11/21 Page 9 of 19

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Given the context of Parler’s looming threat to Twitter and the fact

that the Twitter ban might not long muzzle the President if he switched to Parler,

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potentially bringing tens of millions of followers with him, AWS moved to shut
down Parler. See id.
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Yesterday evening, at 6:07 pm PST, web news site BuzzFeed posted

an article with screenshots of a letter from AWS to Parler, informing Parler that
its account would be suspended at 11:59 pm PST on Sunday, less than thirty hours
later. See John Paczkowski, Amazon Is Booting Parler Off of Its Web Hosting
Service,

BuzzFeed

(Jan.

9,

2021),

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https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/johnpaczkowski/amazon-parler-aws.
Strangely, the article with the letter was posted before Parler itself received the

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letter in an email, received at 7:19 pm PST, over an hour after the BuzzFeed article
went online, meaning AWS leaked the letter to BuzzFeed before sending it to
Parler. See Exhibit A.
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Last evening, the Associated Press reported that “Parler may be the

leading candidate” for President Trump after his Twitter ban as “[e]xperts had
predicted Trump might pop up on Parler . . . .”). Frank Bajak, Squelched by Twitter,
Trump Seeks New Online Megaphone, Associated Press (Jan. 9, 2021),

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https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-politics-media-social-media-coronaviruspandemic-f5b565ca93a792640211e6438f2db842. However, the AP also observed

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VERIFIED COMPLAINT - 9

David J. Groesbeck, P.S.
Attorney and Counselor
1716 Sylvester St. SW
Olympia, Washington 98501
[phone]

Case 2:21-cv-00031-BJR Document 1 Filed 01/11/21 Page 10 of 19

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that “Amazon struck [a] blow Saturday [against the chances of Trump adopting

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the platform], informing Parler it would need to look for a new web-hosting service

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effective midnight Sunday.” Id.

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23.

This death blow by AWS could not come at a worse time for Parler—

a time when the company is surging with the potential of even more explosive
growth in the next few days. Worse than the timing is the result—Parler has tried
to find alternative companies to host it and they have fallen through. It has no
other options. Without AWS, Parler is finished as it has no way to get online. And
a delay of granting this TRO by even one day could also sound Parler’s death knell

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as President Trump and others move on to other platforms.1 It is no wonder, then,
that competitor Twitter’s CEO has heartily endorsed efforts to remove Parler from

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the public sphere. See Kevin Shalvey, Parler’s CEO John Matze Responded Angrily
After Jack Dorsey Endorsed Apple’s Removal of the Social Network Favored by
Conservatives,

Busines

Insider

(Jan.

10,

2021),

https://www.businessinsider.com/parler-john-matze-responded-angrily-jackdorsey-apple-ban-2021-1.

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AWS indefinitely suspending Parler’s account is categorically different than Google or Apple
dropping Parler from their app stores. In the instance of the latter, existing Parler users can still use
its app—it’s just harder for Parler to sign up new users. But with AWS’s move, both existing users
and new users are completely prevented from using the app until Parler can find some other service
to replace AWS. Users are also prevented from using Parler’s website, which is likewise dependent
upon AWS.
1

VERIFIED COMPLAINT - 10

David J. Groesbeck, P.S.
Attorney and Counselor
1716 Sylvester St. SW
Olympia, Washington 98501
[phone]

Case 2:21-cv-00031-BJR Document 1 Filed 01/11/21 Page 11 of 19

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Parler’s rival social media apps, such as conservative-oriented Gab or

conservative media Rumble, are also experiencing record growth right now. See

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Isaac & Browning, Fact-checked on Facebook and Twitter, supra. If Parler is not
available, people will turn to alternatives, or perhaps return to Twitter or
Facebook. What is more, Parler’s current users are likely to leave and go to another
platform if Parler is down for an indefinite period. And once those users have begun
to use another platform, they may not return to Parler once it’s back online.
25.

And by silencing Parler, AWS silences the millions of Parler users

who do not feel their free speech is protected by Twitter or other social media apps.

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What is more, by pulling the plug on Parler but leaving Twitter alone

despite identical conduct by users on both sites, AWS reveals that its expressed

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reasons for suspending Parler’s account are but pretext. In its note announcing the
pending termination of Parler’s service, AWS alleged that “[o]ver the past several
weeks, we’ve reported 98 examples to Parler of posts that clearly encourage and
incite violence.” Exhibit A. AWS provide a few examples, including one that stated,
“How bout make them hang?”, followed by a series of hashtags, including “#fu-mikepence.” Id.
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AWS further stated to Parler that the “violent content on your website

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. . . violates our terms.” Id. Because, AWS declared, “we cannot provide services to
a customer that is unable to effectively identify and remove content that

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VERIFIED COMPLAINT - 11

David J. Groesbeck, P.S.
Attorney and Counselor
1716 Sylvester St. SW
Olympia, Washington 98501
[phone]

Case 2:21-cv-00031-BJR Document 1 Filed 01/11/21 Page 12 of 19

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encourages or incites violence against others,” AWS announced the pending

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termination of Parler’s account. Id.

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28.

However, the day before, on Friday, one of the top trends on Twitter

was “Hang Mike Pence,” with over 14,000 tweets. See Peter Aitken, ‘Hang Mike
Pence’ Trends on Twitter After Platform Suspends Trump for Risk of ‘Incitement of
Violence’, Fox News (Jan. 9, 2021), https://www.foxnews.com/politics/twittertrending-hang-mike-pence. And earlier last week, a Los Angeles Times columnist
observed that Twitter and other social media platforms are partly culpable for the
Capital Hill riot, by allowing rioters to communicate and rile each other up. See

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Erika D. Smith, How Twitter, Facebook are Partly Culpable for Trump DC Riot,
LA Times (Jan. 6, 2021), https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-01-06/how-

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twitter-facebook-partly-culpable-trump-dc-riot-capitol. Yet these equivalent, if not
greater, violations of AWS’s terms of service by Twitter have apparently been
ignored by AWS.
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AWS knew its allegations contained in the letter it leaked to the press

that Parler was not able to find and remove content that encouraged violence was
false—because over the last few days Parler had removed everything AWS had
brought to its attention and more. Yet AWS sought to defame Parler nonetheless.

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And because of AWS false claims, leaked to the public, Parler has not only lost
current and future customers, but Parler has also been unable to find an

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VERIFIED COMPLAINT - 12

David J. Groesbeck, P.S.
Attorney and Counselor
1716 Sylvester St. SW
Olympia, Washington 98501
[phone]

Case 2:21-cv-00031-BJR Document 1 Filed 01/11/21 Page 13 of 19

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alternative web hosting company. In short, AWS false claims have made Parler a

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pariah.

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Count One: Sherman Act, Section 1

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AWS is prohibited from contracting or conspiring to restrain trade or
commerce.

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30.

Parler restates, re-alleges, and incorporates by reference each of the

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allegations set forth in the rest of this Complaint as if fully set forth herein.

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31.

Section 1 of the Sherman Act prohibits “[e]very contract, combination

in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce .
. .” 15 U.S.C. § 1. “To state a claim under Section 1, a plaintiff must allege facts
that, if true, will prove: (1) the existence of a conspiracy, (2) intention on the part
of

the

co-conspirators

to

restrain

trade,

and

(3)

actual

injury

to

competition.” Coalition For ICANN Transparency, Inc. v. VeriSign, Inc., 611 F.3d
495, 501-02 (9th Cir. 2010).
32.

Less than a month ago, AWS and Parler’s competitor, Twitter,

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entered into a multi-year deal. Late Friday evening, Twitter banned President
Trump from using its platform, thereby driving enormous numbers of its users to

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Parler. Twenty-four hours later, AWS announced it would indefinitely suspend
Parler’s account.
33.

AWS’s reasons for doing so are not consistent with its treatment of

Twitter, indicating a desire to harm Parler.

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VERIFIED COMPLAINT - 13

David J. Groesbeck, P.S.
Attorney and Counselor
1716 Sylvester St. SW
Olympia, Washington 98501
[phone]

Case 2:21-cv-00031-BJR Document 1 Filed 01/11/21 Page 14 of 19

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34.

By suspending Parler’s account, AWS will remove from the market a

surging player, severely restraining commerce in the microblogging services

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market.
35. AWS’s actions violate the Sherman Act, 5 U.S.C. § 1.
36. Parler is entitled to injunctive relief.
Count Two: Breach of Contract
AWS breached its contract with Parler by not providing thirty days’
notice before terminating its account.
37. Parler restates, re-alleges, and incorporates by reference each of the
allegations set forth in the rest of this Complaint as if fully set forth herein.
38. Under Washington law, “[a] breach of contract is actionable only if the
contract imposes a duty, the duty is breached, and the breach proximately causes
damage to the claimant.” See Northwest Independent Forest Mfrs. v. Dept. of Labor

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and Industries, 78 Wn. App. 707, 712, 899 P.2d 6 (1995).
39. The AWS Customer Agreement with Parler allows either party to

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terminate the agreement “for cause if the other party is in material breach of this
Agreement and the material breach remains uncured for a period of 30 days from
receipt of notice by the other party.” Exhibit B.
40. On January 8, 2021, AWS brought concerns to Parler about user
content that encouraged violence. Parler addressed them, and then AWS said it
was “okay” with Parler.

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VERIFIED COMPLAINT - 14

David J. Groesbeck, P.S.
Attorney and Counselor
1716 Sylvester St. SW
Olympia, Washington 98501
[phone]

Case 2:21-cv-00031-BJR Document 1 Filed 01/11/21 Page 15 of 19

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41. The next day, January 9, 2021, AWS brought more “bad” content to
Parler and Parler took down all of that content by the evening.

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42. Thus, there was no uncured material breach of the Agreement for 30
days, as required for termination.
43. Further, while AWS used the term “suspension” in its notice to Parler,
it stated that it would “ensure that all of your data is preserved for you to migrate
to your own servers, and will work with you as best as we can to help your
migration.” Exhibit A. This is not action AWS would take for a temporary
suspension, but rather for a permanent termination. Thus, whatever words AWS

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used, it was terminating the Agreement with Parler.
44. This termination will immediately make it impossible for Parler to have

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an online presence for at least a week, depriving Parler’s current users of any use
of the app and website, and completely preventing any new users from
downloading and using the app, or the website.
45. Thus, AWS will have breached its contract with and harmed Parler.
Further, lost future profits in this case are difficult to calculate due to the rapidly
increasing nature of Parler’s user base. That’s because “[t]he usual method for
proving lost profits is to establish profit history.” Tiegs v. Watts, 135 Wash.2d 1

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(1998). But that history will, at best, undervalue the future given how quickly
Parler is growing. And at worst, Parler will get nothing as “[l]ost profits cannot be

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VERIFIED COMPLAINT - 15

David J. Groesbeck, P.S.
Attorney and Counselor
1716 Sylvester St. SW
Olympia, Washington 98501
[phone]

Case 2:21-cv-00031-BJR Document 1 Filed 01/11/21 Page 16 of 19

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recovered where they are speculative, uncertain and conjectural” because “[t]he

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amount of lost profits must be established with reasonable certainty.” Id. Thus,

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money damages may not be available, but at the least are insufficient to make
Parler whole.
46. Parler is entitled to injunctive relief.
Count Three: Tortious Interference with a Contract or Business
Expectancy
By terminating Parler’s account, AWS will intentionally interfere with
the contracts Parler has with millions of its present users, as well as
with the users it is projected to gain this week.
47. Parler restates, re-alleges, and incorporates by reference each of the
allegations set forth in the rest of this Complaint as if fully set forth herein.
48. In Washington, “[t]he elements of tortious interference with a contract
or expectancy are: (1) the existence of a valid contractual relationship or business
expectancy; (2) the defendant’s knowledge of that relationship; (3) an intentional
interference inducing or causing a breach or termination of the relationship or

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expectancy; (4) the defendant's interference for an improper purpose or by
improper means; and (5) resulting damage.” Koch v. Mutual of Enumclaw Ins. Co.,

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108 Wn. App. 500, 506, 31 P.3d 698 (2001).
49. Parler currently has over 12 million users under contract. It expects to
add millions more this week given its growth the last few days and the growing
voice of conservatives encouraging their Twitter followers to switch to Parler.

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VERIFIED COMPLAINT - 16

David J. Groesbeck, P.S.
Attorney and Counselor
1716 Sylvester St. SW
Olympia, Washington 98501
[phone]

Case 2:21-cv-00031-BJR Document 1 Filed 01/11/21 Page 17 of 19

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50. AWS is aware of Parler’s user numbers and current trends. AWS also

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knew that Parler was negotiating with it to increase its server capacity given this

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ongoing and expected growth. AWS also knew of public speculation that Trump,
with his nearly 90 million Twitter followers, was going to switch to Parler, likely
bringing many of those followers with him. Finally, AWS also knew from public
statements that Parler was about to go to the market to raise money.
51. AWS intentionally will interfere with Parler’s current contracts and
future expected customer relationships by terminating Parler’s Agreement with it
under the pretext that Parler was in violation of that contract when AWS knew

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Parler was not in violation (and when Twitter was engaging in identical conduct
but AWS did not terminate its contract with Twitter).

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52. Parler will be severely damaged financially and reputationally if it
must go offline Sunday at midnight because AWS terminates Parler’s account. As
noted above, given the speculative nature of Parler’s financial and reputational
damages, money damages will not make it whole.
53. Therefore, Parler is entitled to injunctive relief.
PRAYER FOR RELIEF

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Plaintiff respectfully requests that the Court:
A. Grant Parler’s motion for a Temporary Restraining Order and order AWS to

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maintain Parler’s account until further notice from this Court, and to refrain from

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VERIFIED COMPLAINT - 17

David J. Groesbeck, P.S.
Attorney and Counselor
1716 Sylvester St. SW
Olympia, Washington 98501
[phone]

Case 2:21-cv-00031-BJR Document 1 Filed 01/11/21 Page 18 of 19

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suspending, terminating or failing to provide any services previously provided

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under Parler’s customer agreement with AWS.

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B. Grant Parler damages, including trebled damages, in an amount to be
determined at trial.
C. Grant Parler such other relief as the Court deems just and proper.

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///
///
///

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///

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Dated: January 10, 2021.

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Respectfully submitted,

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/s David J. Groesbeck
WSBA No. 24749
DAVID J. GROESBECK, P.S.
1716 Sylvester St. SW
Olympia, WA 98501
[phone]
[e-mail]

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621 W. Mallon Ave., Suite 507
Spokane, WA 99201

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Counsel for Plaintiff

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VERIFIED COMPLAINT - 18

David J. Groesbeck, P.S.
Attorney and Counselor
1716 Sylvester St. SW
Olympia, Washington 98501
[phone]

Case 2:21-cv-00031-BJR Document 1 Filed 01/11/21 Page 19 of 19

VERIFICATION
I, John Matze, say that I am the Chief Executive Officer of Parler LLC in the
case captioned Parler LLC v. Amazon Web Services, Inc., in the U.S. District Court
for the Western District of Washington, and have authorized the filing of this
complaint. I have reviewed the allegations made in the complaint, and to those
allegations of which I have personal knowledge, I know them to be true. As to those
allegations of which I do not have personal knowledge, I believe them to be true.
Dated: January 10, 2021
Verified by:
John Matze
Chief Executive Officer, Parler LLC