Kanye West will buy the social media platform Parler, the current owner of the company announced.
Parlement Technologies said it has reached an agreement in principle to sell the “pioneering indelible free speech platform” to the rapper, now called Ye.
West said: “In a world where conservative views are considered controversial, we need to make sure we have the right to express ourselves freely.”
The controversial music star is active on Parler, which proposes itself as “an independent social media app from the point of view dedicated to freedom of expression, civil discourse and user privacy”.
West restricted his Twitter and Instagram accounts last week after a supposedly anti-Semitic post.
He had tweeted for the first time in two years to complain about his Instagram ban, with his return being welcomed by potential new Twitter owner. Elon Musk.
“Welcome back to Twitter, my friend,” he told West, before the rapper was promptly banned from there as well.
Why Parler is controversial
Parler returned to the Google Play Store just last month, having been removed after the Capitol riots in January 2021 for allowing posts seeking to “incite ongoing violence in the United States”.
The Apple App Store after the attempted insurrection by a pro-Trump mobbut he was allowed to return to the platform four months later.
The app has been proposed as a potential new home for Donald Trump after him banned from Twitter and other mainstream sites for its role in the violence, which came as Joe BidenVictory in the 2020 elections has been ratified.
Trump ended up launching his own social media platform, Truth Social, which has seen a recent surge in popularity following the FBI raid on the former president’s estate in Florida.
Truth Social advertises itself in a similar way to Parler, promising a “big tent approach” without censorship. Its slogan on the Google Play Store begs potential users to “follow the truth”.
Kanye West was a Donald Trump supporter, but ran for president in 2020
Musk, meanwhile, said the driving force behind it want to buy Twitter it is a willingness to support free speech, and the richest man in the world said he would overturn Trump’s ban.
After a few tumultuous months in which Musk got involved and then attempted to withdraw from buying Twitter, he was given a court-set deadline of October 28 to close the deal or face a trial.
West’s acquisition of Parler is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2022.
