Parlement Technologies, owners of “right-wing” social media platform Parler, announced on Monday that it has reached a deal with controversial rapper and businessman Kanye West to buy its asset.
Parler is closely associated with former US president Donald Trump supporters.
In a statement, Parler CEO George Farmer said the company has entered into a deal in principle with Kanye, who now goes by the moniker Ye, to acquire the business for an undisclosed amount.
“The acquisition ensures Parler a future role in creating uncancelable ecosystem where all voices are welcome,” said Farmer.
“This deal will change the world, and change the way the world thinks about free speech. Ye is making a groundbreaking move into free-speech media space and will never have to fear being removed from social media again.”
Ye’s net worth is reportedly in the region of $2-billion (R36.3-billion) with the bulk of his fortune coming from his Yeezy sneakers brand and partnerships with Gap and Adidas.
The deal comes days after Ye was locked out of his Twitter and Instagram accounts following a weekend of antisemitic posts. He has more than 31-million followers on Twitter, which is in the process of being bought by his friend and the world’s richest man Elon Musk.
Early in October, South African-born Musk changed his mind once again on a potential Twitter deal, indicating that he will buy the social media platform for his original offer price of about $44-billion.
Trump himself opened his own social media platform Truth Social, after he was banned by Twitter and Facebook.
The last straw for Twitter was in January 2021 when a mob invaded the US Capitol in protest of the election of Joe Biden as Trump’s successor, an election Trump has to date called rigged.
Twitter then permanently banned Trump from the platform for violating its policies against inciting violence.
Before the ban, Trump had repeatedly used his Twitter account to widely spread misinformation about the 2020 US election.
Ye has on various occasions expressed his love and admiration for Trump.
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