Kanye West buys Parler’s social media network
LOS ANGELES: After Instagram and Twitter restricted his accounts for being labeled as anti-semitic, famous rapper Kanye West will buy social networking platform Parler.
Citing a Reuters report, Kanye West, who is now known as Ye, agreed to buy a platform known among conservatives in the United States.
The CEO of Parler’s parent company, Parlement Technologies, George Farmer said deal negotiations with Ye began at the recently concluded Paris Fashion Week.
“The agreement with West will change the way the world thinks about freedom of expression.
“Ye joined Parler last Monday and had about 91 followers at the time of the announcement. He currently has 3,900 followers.
“In a world where conservative opinions are considered controversial, we need to make sure we have freedom of speech,” Farmer said in a statement.
Parler, based in Nashville, United States, managed to attract an investment of US$56 million (RM264.1 million) and expects the negotiations to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2022. However, the value of the agreement was not announced.
Parler was launched in 2018 as a voice space for right-wing users who claimed their accounts were blocked on the social media platform.
Parler is one of several social media platforms, including Gettr, Gab and Truth Social, that position themselves as alternative free speech platforms to Twitter.
The network is one of the few in the conservative social media market.
It once had over 20 million users before being pulled from Apple and Google apps.
source – Faida Rahim
