NPR

Why SkySilk Came Out of Nowhere To Save Parler After Capitol Riot

After Amazon took down Parler over the violent messages on its site, no tech services firm would help it come back online. Then an obscure L.A.-based company offered to help.
Kevin Matossian is the CEO of tech company SkySilk.

On Jan. 10, just days after pro-Trump rioters blitzed the U.S. Capitol, Amazon Web Services pulled the plug on the conservative social media site Parler.

Parler grew desperate. It had relied on Amazon's web hosting services to reach its burgeoning audience of more than 12 million. After Amazon cut it off, it was rejected by six other web hosts. It seemed doomed to disappear from the web.

Until SkySilk showed up.

The obscure Los Angeles-based web-hosting company extended a hand, and brought Parler back online last month.

In his first interview since that moment, SkySilk CEO Kevin Matossian said he never intended to jump into the middle of the national debate over online speech. Instead, he said, he made a deal with Parler to spite tech giants like Amazon, which, he says, abuse their might.

"Is the power that is being wielded by Big Tech more dangerous than the hate and vitriol of certain places on the Internet?" he said. "We took the position that big

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