Rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, has entered into an agreement to acquire American microblogging and social networking service Parler.
The platform, which is primarily popular with Donald Trump supporters, conservatives, conspiracy theorists and far-right extremists, has been downloaded 6.2 million times in the United States and 8.5 million times worldwide across iOS and Google Play store, as of October 16th, according to data from data.ai.
The platform had roughly 983,000 global monthly active users in the first half of 2022.
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_social) October 17, 2022
“The acquisition ensures Parler a future role in creating an uncancelable ecosystem where all voices are welcome,” wrote Parler in its Twitter post announcing the agreement. This comes soon after Ye was banned from Twitter and Instagram over antisemitic posts.
“This deal will change the world, and change the way the world thinks about free speech. Ye is making a groundbreaking move into the free speech media space and will never have to fear being removed from social media again,” said Parler CEO George Farmer.
It’s worth noting that the platform was removed from the App Store and Google Play Store following the U.S. Capitol riots in January 2021. The platform was subsequently reinstated under then-interim CEO, Mark Meckle.
West recently also came under fire for wearing a ‘White Lives Matter’ T-Shirt to his daughter’s basketball game, which is widely considered a white supremacist phrase.
Ye’s acquisition comes soon after he terminated his partnership with apparel retailer Gap, while Adidas has put the rapper’s Yeezy brand “under review.”
The deal is expected to close by the end of 2022.
Image credit: Revolt
Source: @parler_app
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