Kanye West wants to take over the social app Parler
American rapper Kanye West, who has been asking for some time to be called Ye and has recently been banned from Instagram, is proposing to buy Parler. This application from Parliament Technologies is particularly popular among American conservatives.
Parler, a Nashville-based company, has already raised about $56 million. The transaction with Kanye West is expected to close in the fourth half of 2022, but no figures have been revealed.
Launched in 2018, the Parler application is a space of free expression for Internet users looking for alternatives to behemoths such as Twitter. It is available again on the app stores of Google and Apple after being removed following the invasion of the capitol in January 2021.
Ye, who is also a stylist, ended his partnership with clothing brand Gap Inc a few weeks ago. German sports equipment manufacturer Adidas, for its part, has announced its intention to review its commercial relationship with the rapper.
His provocative attitude has also earned him some setbacks with the main social networks, where his accounts have already been blocked several times.
Recently, Kanye West was even banned from Instagram by Facebook's parent company, Meta Platforms, after posting content condemned for anti-Semitism by internet users. He then retreated to Twitter, where he hadn't posted anything in two years.
"In a world where conservative values are seen as polemical, we must guarantee our right to express ourselves freely," he said in a statement.
Ye apparently joined Parler on Monday and had about 91 followers at the time of the announcement.
The American rapper had said he wanted to run in the 2020 presidential elections against Donald Trump in the United States but eventually withdrew from the race.
The success of Parler is partly due to the enthusiasm of Trump supporters for the app.
Last month, Parler created a new parent company called Parliament Technologies Inc as part of a restructuring.
