Music mogul Kanye West is set to acquire the social media website Parler, according to its parent company, putting a new face out front for the tech platform that has attracted a conservative audience but has struggled to expand its reach.
Parlement Technologies said Monday it reached an agreement to sell Parler to Mr. West, the rapper now known as Ye. The company did not disclose the terms of the agreement but said it is expected to close in the final quarter of 2022.
“This deal will change the world, and change the way the world thinks about free speech,” Parlement Technologies CEO George Farmer said in a statement. “Ye is making a groundbreaking move into the free speech media space and will never have to fear being removed from social media again.”
The social media platforms Instagram and Twitter restricted Mr. West’s accounts this month, following his antisemitic posts that drew criticism.
Parler’s interface resembles its longer-established competitor Twitter, with users making microblog posts called parleys instead of tweets. The site now also faces competition from former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social social media platform.
Parlement Technologies shared a link to a Parler account for Mr. West that said it was created Monday.
“In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves,” Mr. West said in a statement shared by Parlement Technologies.
Parler’s anticipated new leadership comes following a period of quick growth, debilitating blowback from larger competitors, and turnover at the top of the company.
Parler’s popularity among Mr. Trump’s fans grew after the 2020 election amid concerns about prominent social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter censoring content online.
Apple and Google removed the Parler app from their app stores following the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol last year, and Amazon Web Services took Parler offline.
Parler returned to the web last year and Apple restored Parler’s app to its store in April 2021. Google permitted Parler back in its app store in September 2022, according to a tweet from Parler.
While the company has worked to overcome accessibility issues, it has also dealt with tumult at the top of its business.
The Parler app first became available in 2018 via the work of software engineer John Matze and conservative donor Rebekah Mercer. The platform’s formal launch for a larger audience revolved around the 2020 Conservative Political Action Conference near Washington, D.C.
Mr. Matze was ousted as CEO in under a month after large tech platforms took Parler offline and out of their app stores last January.
Parler restructured under a parent company, Parlement Technologies, last month after making its return to Google’s app store.
Parler has struggled to garner a liberal following and Mr. West’s broad fan base will likely give the platform visibility with new potential users.
After its 2020 surge in support among conservatives, Parler offered a $20,000 bounty to attract a Twitter-verified public figure who identified as a liberal but when none of the users who applied met all the criteria the company ended the offer.
Mr. West’s acquisition gives the upstart platform a prominent name whose celebrity status predates his public support for Mr. Trump and his courtship of the former president’s fans. Mr. West told Fox News host Tucker Carlson in an interview aired earlier this month that he felt pressured against openly supporting Mr. Trump but ultimately decided to do so anyway.
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
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