Kanye West says he’s buying Parler, the right-wing social media app that bills itself as an “uncancelable free speech platform” and known for its lax moderation policies. The move comes a little more than a week after Instagram restricted West, who legally changed his name to Ye, on the platform and Twitter locked him out of his account. Both platforms took action after the artist spewed antisemitic comments.
Parler parent company Parlement Technologies announced the news in a press release on Monday morning. In the release, Parlement said that it had entered in an agreement “in principle” to sell Parler to Ye and expects to settle on a “definitive purchase agreement” and close the deal later this year. The amount of the sale was not disclosed. Under the deal, Parlement would continue to provide Parler with technical support and cloud services.
According to Parlement, Ye’s decision to buy Parler is a “bold stance against his recent censorship from Big Tech.” The company added that the artist will use his talents to lead the fight to “create a truly non-cancelable environment.”
“In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves,” Ye said in the press release.
The release included a link to Ye’s profile on Parler, which was created on Monday and had 526 followers at the time of publication.
Parlement CEO George Farmer said that he welcomed Ye to the fight for free speech. Farmer is the husband of Candace Owens, the right-wing commentator recently pictured with West in matching “White Lives Matter” shirts.
“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,” Farmer said. “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.”
Parler published a post about the sale to Ye on the platform on Monday.
Instagram and Twitter took action against Ye’s comments and account because the artist violated their policies. Jewish advocacy groups condemned the artist’s antisemitic comments, which invoked tropes like Jewish control and greed, and said that his words were dangerous and fomented hatred against Jews.
Gizmodo reached out to Parler for comment on Monday morning and to ask how much Ye had offered for Parler but did not hear back by the time of publication.
Update 17/10/2022, 11:21 p.m. AEDT: This post has been updated to include screenshots from Parler’s announcement and additional details on the proposed deal.