Kanye West is buying conservative social media platform Parler – Orange County Register

BY MICHELLE CHAPMAN | AP business writer

The rapper formerly known as Kanye West is offering to buy right-wing social network Parler shortly after being booted from Twitter and Instagram for anti-Semitic posts.

Parler’s acquisition would give West, legally known as Ye, control of a social media platform and a new platform for his opinions without a gatekeeper.

Parlement Technologies, which owns the platform, and West said the acquisition should close in the fourth quarter, but details like pricing weren’t disclosed. According to Parlement Technologies, the agreement includes the use of private cloud services via Parlement’s private cloud and data center infrastructure.

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Ye was banned from Twitter and Instagram a week ago for anti-Semitic posts that the social networks said violated their policies. In a post on Twitter, Ye said he would soon go “Death 3 for JEWISH PEOPLE,” according to internet archive records, apparently referring to the US Defense Preparedness Scale known as DEFCON.

Ye is no stranger to controversy, once suggesting slavery is a choice and calling the COVID-19 vaccine “the mark of the beast.” Earlier this month, he was criticized for wearing a White Lives Matter t-shirt with his collection at Paris Fashion Week.

“In a world where conservative opinions are considered controversial, we must ensure we have the right to express ourselves freely,” Ye said in a prepared statement.