Twitter isn’t the only social media app that’s up for sale.
Kanye West announced that he’s buying Parler, the social media app and Twitter alternative.
Via Newsmax:
Controversial rapper and apparel businessman Kanye West announced Monday he’s planning to acquire the conservative social media networking platform Parler.
“In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves,” West, who goes by the name of “Ye,” said in a statement.
App owner Parlement Technologies, based in Nashville, Tennessee, hailed Ye for “taking a bold stance against his recent censorship from Big Tech, using his far-reaching talents to further lead the fight to create a truly non-cancelable environment.”
Ye’s Instagram and Twitter accounts were restricted in early October because of antisemitic posts.
Parler was created in September 2018 as a free speech alternative to apps like Twitter and Facebook. Its founding investor is Rebekah Mercer, a Trump supporter and major Republican donor.
It has amassed little over 250,000 monthly active users on its iOS and Android apps, according to market intelligence platform Sensor Towe, Tech Crunch.
The deal is expected too close during the fourth quarter of 2022; Parler will continue to get technical support from Parlement Technologies, including access to its private cloud services and its data center infrastructure. No estimate on the purchase price was immediately released.
Well this is a bit of a surprise. I’m not sure why Kanye chose Parler to purchase, but I guess he wants to make sure he’s got a place to express himself.
Kanye has been in the news for antisemitism and apparently he’s doubling down, pushing this same Black Hebrew Israelite ideology that Louis Farakahn pushes. He was on a podcast over the weekend and here’s the synopsis. (All the videos supporting this synopsis are in the thread if you want to click the thread and watch them):
🧵 THREAD 🧵 Kanye went on yet another anti-Semitic rant in yet another interview.
First, let’s take a look at these comments from the open anti-Semite for whom high profile conservative figures actively ran cover.
“Jewish people have owned the black voice.” pic.twitter.com/rhKRvowKpE
— Ian Haworth (@ighaworth) October 16, 2022
So let’s recap. Kanye pushed radical Black Hebrew Israelite ideology — again — which is the same ideology pushed by Louis Farrakhan and the same ideology driving violent attacks on Jews in cities like New York.
— Ian Haworth (@ighaworth) October 16, 2022
Kanye pushed the conspiracy theory that Jews control the media, the financial system, the business world — again.
— Ian Haworth (@ighaworth) October 16, 2022
Kanye pushed the idea that it’s racist to *not* blame all Jews for the behavior of individual Jews because black people who get caught committing a crime together are each charged for that crime…
— Ian Haworth (@ighaworth) October 16, 2022
So this is the man buying Parler. Take it for what you will, but hopefully he at least keeps it as a free speech alternative to Twitter.
Right now we have three free speech alternatives to Twitter in Parler, Gettr and Truth Social. I can’t believe they will all survive over time, especially with Twitter being bought by Elon Musk. Anybody remember MySpace? But I guess we’ll see which ones do survive and which ones don’t over the coming years.