Quick take:
- Ye, formerly known as Kanye West is acquiring Parler.
- Parlement Technologies, the organisation behind the app announced Monday that the Music, apparel & sports titan had agreed to buy the platform.
- The platform forayed into web3 in December last year after announcing plans to launch an NFT marketplace.
Ye (formerly Kanye West) has agreed to buy the conservative web3 social media platform Parler. Parlement Technologies revealed Monday that it had entered into an agreement with the American music, sports and apparel business mogul to sell Parler.
Web3 is generally described as the next generation of the internet that leverages emerging technologies like decentralised apps, the blockchain, artificial intelligence and AR/VR to provide autonomous access to data and experiences. Web3 has become a buzzword in 2022 amid the rapid growth of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse markets.
Parler announced in December last year it was launching an NFT marketplace in its first foray into web3.
Parler markets itself as the world’s pioneering uncancelable free speech platform. As a result, it has attracted backing from leading political and media personalities including right-wing activist and heiress, Rebekah Mercer.
Ye’s decision to buy Parler is driven partly by his recent censorship from mainstream social media platforms. The American record producer and fashion designer was kicked off Twitter and Instagram for anti-semitic tweets that an expert said constitute hate speech.
His decision to buy Parler mirrors similar steps taken by former US President Donald Trump, who founded Truth Social after the big tech banned him in 2020 citing polarising messages.
Ye claims his decision is driven by the need to create a truly non-0cancelable environment where all voices are welcome.
“In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves,” said Ye.
Parlement Technologies CEO George Farmer lauded Ye as a compatriot in the fight for free speech saying: “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.”
“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,” added Farmer.
The acquisition is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2022, with Parlement offering continued technical support and access to its cloud services via its private cloud and data centre infrastructure.
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