Kanye West to acquire conservative social media platform Parler - CNN

CNN Business  — 

Kanye West is acquiring Parler, the alternate societal media level favored by galore conservatives.

Parler’s genitor institution announced the woody connected Monday morning, saying West had made “a groundbreaking determination into the escaped code media abstraction and volition ne'er person to fearfulness being removed from societal media again.”

The acquisition comes aft West, who has legally changed his sanction to Ye, had his relationship temporarily locked by Twitter this month implicit an antisemitic tweet.

Exact presumption of the Parler woody weren’t disclosed, though Parler said it indispensable inactive participate into a definitive statement with West and expects to adjacent successful the 4th quarter. Parler’s parent, Parlement Technologies, would stay progressive by providing method services and unreality support.

Buying Parler could marque West the latest personage proprietor of a societal media level aft erstwhile President Donald Trump’s bid to triumph implicit conservatives with Truth Social and Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s projected acquisition of Twitter. It besides highlights however a tiny radical of affluent men, immoderate of whom were banned oregon suspended themselves for incendiary remarks, are looking to ain societal media platforms successful an effort to bolster what they telephone “free speech.”

“In a satellite wherever blimpish opinions are considered to beryllium arguable we person to marque definite we person the close to freely explicit ourselves,” West said successful a merchandise by Parler.

As portion of the announcement, Parler linked to West’s relationship connected the platform, which appeared to person launched simultaneously. As of aboriginal Monday, the relationship had astir 500 followers.

For Ye, the woody comes during a peculiarly arguable period. West has made headlines successful caller weeks for wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt successful nationalist and defending his usage of the slogan — a operation the Anti-Defamation League has linked to achromatic supremacy groups — arsenic “funny” to Fox News big Tucker Carlson. After the garment incident, the apparel institution Adidas this period said it was reviewing its concern with West. In September, West besides said helium was abandoning a two-year partnership with the covering retailer Gap.

Speaking connected CNN Monday, Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL’s CEO, called Parler a “haven” of hate.

Parler was founded successful 2018 and saw accelerated maturation surrounding the 2020 election. Billing itself arsenic a loosely moderated free-speech haven, the app became fashionable with blimpish politicians and media figures, peaking astatine an estimated 2.9 cardinal regular users, according to the marketplace probe steadfast Apptopia. But since then, its fortunes person dimmed, with Parler’s estimated regular idiosyncratic number slipping to conscionable 40,000, Apptopia told CNN connected Monday. (Twitter, by comparison, has much than 237 cardinal regular progressive users.)

In the weeks pursuing the Jan. 6 riots, Parler was removed from some the Apple App Store and Google Play Store for what the companies said was a failure to adequately mean convulsive rhetoric connected the platform. Documents provided to the House committee investigating the Capitol riots have shown however the Secret Service was alert of posts connected Parler that suggested the anticipation of unit surrounding that day. Separately, Parler has written to Congress claiming that lawmakers’ involvement successful the app’s relation successful the riots has been intended to “scapegoat” the app.

Parler has since been restored to some app stores aft making changes to its contented moderation practices.

Parler has faced much contention successful caller months arsenic the burgeoning right-wing integer media ecosystem has expanded. Truth Social launched successful February connected Apple’s app store, and was approved for Google’s app store connected Oct. 13. Truth Social saw a spike of downloads past week owed to its quality connected the Google Play Store, Apptopia said, and earlier past had been hovering astatine 144,000 regular progressive users.

Musk’s determination to bargain Twitter, if the woody goes through, besides has the imaginable to upend Parler and akin services. Musk has repeatedly called for eliminating imperishable bans and rethinking Twitter’s attack to contented moderation, which could erstwhile again marque the overmuch larger level a location for immoderate of the users who jumped to tiny services similar Parler.

It could besides efficaciously mean that Musk and Ye, who are said to beryllium friends, are present competing with each other. After Ye’s antisemitic tweet sparked an outcry, Musk tweeted: “Talked to ye contiguous & expressed my concerns astir his caller tweet, which I deliberation helium took to heart.”

One week later, Ye’s woody to bargain Parler was announced.