Kanye West wants to buy Parler, an ultra-right social network

Singer Kanye West, who recently changed his name to Ye, announced on Monday October 17 his intention to buy the ultra-conservative social network Parler, launched in 2018. “This acquisition ensures that Parler will play a role in creating an ecosystem that cannot be censored, and in which all voices are welcome,” writes the company in a press release. The amount of the transaction, which is expected to close by the end of the year, has not been made public.

Parler was created in 2018 as a “safe haven” for American conservatives who felt “censored” on mainstream social media. It practices almost no form of moderation, which caused it to be temporarily removed from Google and Apple’s online app stores after Donald Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Its main shareholder is the heiress of the Mercer family, ultra-conservative American billionaires close to Donald Trump’s former adviser, Steve Bannon.

In mid-September, the company announced that it had acquired a web hosting service provider, in order to control its own infrastructure – it had lost its contract with Amazon Web Services in 2021, causing significant disruption on its network. Parler then also announced a restructuring as well as a fundraising of around 16 million euros.

Kanye West’s Twitter and Instagram accounts were partially blocked last week after several anti-Semitic messages were posted. The singer, accustomed to provocations, also went to Paris Fashion Week on October 3 wearing a T-shirt on which was written “White lives matter”, diversion of the slogan of the Black Lives Matter movement. One of its main sponsors, Adidas, then announced that it wanted “reevaluate” his relationship with the artist. “In a world where conservative views are deemed controversial, we must ensure that we have the right to express ourselves freely”, the star said in a statement.