SAN FRANCISCO: American rapper Kanye West announced on Monday his intention to buy the social network Parler, particularly popular with conservatives in the United States and supporters of Donald Trump.
“In a world where conservative views are deemed controversial, we must ensure that we have the right to express ourselves freely,” said the one who calls himself Ye in a statement published by Parler.
The amount of the transaction, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2022, was not disclosed.
Kanye West has found himself in recent days at the heart of several controversies, in particular for having worn a t-shirt hijacking the anti-racist slogan “Black Lives Matter” and for having published comments on Instagram and Twitter denounced as anti-Semitic.
Both platforms have restricted its room for maneuver after posts highlighting the supposed influence of the Jewish community.
“Ye is taking a revolutionary step into the free speech media space and will never have to worry about being taken off social media again,” said George Farmer, CEO of Parler.
“Once again, Ye proves he is one step ahead of the mainstream media narrative,” Farmer added.
The rapper’s decision was widely praised or decried on Twitter, with many netizens mocking several billionaires’ desire to own their social network in the name of free speech.
“We’re going to have fun!!”, reacted Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla and SpaceX who wanted to buy Twitter in the spring for 44 billion dollars, before changing his mind in the summer. He must reach a new deal to acquire the platform by the end of the month if he wants to avoid a high-profile lawsuit.
But that tweet was deleted a few hours later, as was an image that showed manga characters with his photo and that of Kanye West, hilarious, called “Twitter” and “Talking”, joining forces, under the mention “You n haven’t seen anything yet”.
“Psychologist”
According to Politico, Kanye West spoke on the phone with Donald Trump on Monday and plans to have dinner with him soon.
The rapper told Bloomberg that he would invite the politician to join Parler, and that he himself intended to go to Truth Social, the social network launched by the former head of state in late February.
Kanye West has reportedly yet to decide whether or not he’s going to ditch mainstream platforms altogether.
For him, Parler serves as a “safe haven for people who have been harassed by thought police,” he told Bloomberg. “Express how you feel, Express what is knotted in you. Express what haunts you. Social networks serve me as a psychologist”.
Launched in 2018, Parler saw its popularity skyrocket after Donald Trump was ousted from Twitter and Facebook shortly after the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, when the former US president was accused of inciting his supporters to violence.
But Apple and Google, deploring the increasing threats of violence and illegal activity on the network, quickly removed it from their download platforms.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) had also decided to no longer host it on its servers, effectively ostracizing the platform.
Parler has been accepted again on the App Store since April 2021 and on the Google Play Store since September 2021, but remains very far from mainstream platforms in terms of audience.
The network calls itself a “driving force in the fight against” tech giants, the state, censorship, and “cancel culture”.
Truth Social was approved by the Google Play Store last week after agreeing to update its policy on the removal of messages inciting violence.
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