Last Updated on October 17, 2022
Kanye West has reportedly agreed in principle to purchase social media platform Parler, according to PRNewswire. The rap megastar and entrepreneur, who is worth approximately $2 billion, has cited the need for a space for conservative opinions to be allowed to be disseminated freely. The current CEO of Parler is George Farmer, husband of conservative commentator Candace Owens.
Parlement Technologies is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement in principle for Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, to acquire the Parler platform. The acquisition ensures Parler a future role in creating an uncancelable ecosystem where all voices are welcome. pic.twitter.com/KXdhV71prl
— Parler (@parler_app) October 17, 2022
“In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves,” West said in a statement released by Parler.
The terms of the acquisition are not currently fully known. According to a press release from last month, Parler has secured approximately $56 million in funding. “The new capital will fuel Parler’s vision to leapfrog the industry by building the world’s premier free speech technology infrastructure and platform”, according to the statement.
Farmer added, “We are entering a new era as Parlement Technologies, one that goes far beyond the boundaries of a free speech social media platform.”
Kanye West, who now goes by “Ye”, was recently booted from Twitter. In addition to Twitter, JP Morgan Chase announced that they had closed a bank account belonging to the rap mogul.
With the prevalence of “cancel culture”, many people have been seeking out alternative platforms where right-leaning opinions are not punished. Parler became immensely popular for a short period of time in the lead-up to the 2020 election, but was dealt a near death blow when Apple removed it from the App Store and Amazon dropped it from its web hosting services following the January 6, 2021 election protest in Washington.
As monolithic platforms such as Facebook (Meta), Twitter, and YouTube have become more censorious, often at the behest of the Biden Administration’s war on “misinformation“, pro-free speech alternatives have garnered funding from several major political figures. Even Twitter may be on its way to being a free speech platform once again, depending on the direction that Elon Musk takes it once his purchase goes final.
NEW @Axios: Ye, formerly Kanye West, plans to acquire Parler
Big picture: Conservatives really starting to build alternate media universe
— Elon is buying Twitter
— Trump building his own platform
— Peter Thiel and J.D. Vance are funding Rumblehttps://t.co/2bMJVs6PDY— Sara Fischer (@sarafischer) October 17, 2022
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