Kanye West is buying "free speech" platform Parler.
Kanye West is buying Parler
The controversial rapper - who is currently blocked on Instagram and Twitter after making anti-Semitic remarks - said he is buying the social network to ensure people with conservative voices “have the right to freely express ourselves.”
The 45-year-old star - who has legally changed his name to Ye - said in a statement: “In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial, we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves.”
Parlement Technologies said they have reached an "agreement in principle" to sell the platform to the 'Stronger' hitmaker and CEO George Farmer welcomes the rapper in joining their right for freedom of speech.
He said: “This deal will change the world and change the way the world thinks about free speech.
“Ye is making a ground-breaking move into the free speech media space and will never have to fear being removed from social media again. Once again, Ye proves that he is one step ahead of the legacy media narrative. Parlement will be honoured to help him achieve his goals.”
According to the statement, the parties intend to enter into a definitive purchase agreement and expect to close the deal during the final quarter of 2022.
The terms of the sale will include ongoing tech support from Parlement and the use of cloud services via their private cloud and data centre infrastructure.
Kanye is already an active user on the platform, which was only reinstated to the Google Play store last month after being banned following the Capitol riots in 2021 for allowing posts said to be aiming “to incite ongoing violence in the US”.
The app pitches itself as a "viewpoint-neutral social media app dedicated to freedom of expression, civil discourse, and user privacy" and ws once tipped to be a potential new home for Donald Trump after the former president was banned from Twitter.
However, in response he launched his own platform, Truth Social.
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