Rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, was banned from Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) on October 8 for posting about his plans to go "death con 3" on Jewish people. Now, he's announced that he will be purchasing the conservative social media site Parler in a deal set to close in the fourth quarter of this year, according to Parler's parent company Parlement Technologies.
Parler, a Nashville-based app that calls itself a "pioneering uncancelable free speech platform," was removed from the Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) app stores following the January 6 attack on the U.S. capitol. Apple said the app included posts that "encouraged violence, denigrated various ethnic groups, races and religions" and "glorified Nazism." Parler has since been allowed back on both platforms.
"Ye is making a groundbreaking move into the free speech media space and will never have to fear being removed from social media again," Parlement CEO George Farmer said. "Once again, Ye proves that he is one step ahead of the legacy media narrative."
According to Farmer, talks with Ye about the Parler acquisition began after Paris Fashion Week and were quickly completed. During the Paris event, Ye received criticism for debuting a shirt that read "White Lives Matter", a slogan recognized as hate speech by the Anti-Defamation League.
Soon after, Ye was banned on Instagram for posting private conversations between himself and the rapper Sean Combs, also known as Diddy. In the messages, Ye accused Combs of being controlled by Jewish people after Combs expressed concern for Ye's mental well-being and anger regarding the "White Lives Matter" shirt.
"The motivating factor with him was the discussion about Instagram blocking him," Farmer said about the acquisition deal. "I see this as a warning shot across the bow for companies that want to de-platform people."
Ye, with an estimated net worth of $2 billion, joined Parler on October 17, a day before his purchase of the platform was announced. According to the research firm Apptopia, Parler has an estimated 40,000 daily users and has been installed 11.7 million times since its launch in 2018.
"In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves," Ye said in a statement.
On Oct. 10, Ye shared a 30-minute Youtube documentary in which he can be seen showing a pornographic video to a pair of Adidas (OTC: ADDYY) executives with blurred faces during a professional meeting. Adidas announced that its partnership with Ye was under review as of Oct. 6.
In September, Ye ended his relationship with the retailer Gap (NYSE: GPS) due to excessive restrictions on his creative process, according to the rapper.
Truth Social, another social media app implicated on Jan. 6, was also recently allowed back onto the Google Play Store after being removed in February. Google said the app lacked sufficient moderation on posts calling for violence, though it's unclear why its stance has since changed.
Like Parler, Gettr, Gab, and fromer President Donald Trump's Truth Social is attempting to serve as a more permissive alternative to Twitter. Republican donor Peter Thiel also invested heavily in conservative Youtube-alternative, Rumble, in response to so-called censorship and deplatforming.
Billionaire Elon Musk's ongoing efforts to purchase Twitter may pose a considerable threat to the ongoing success of each of those conservative alternatives: Musk has already said that he plans to reinstate Trump's account, and other conservatives are likely to follow. Each time the Musk acquisition seems more likely, share prices for Truth Social and the others all suffer as the need for a Twitter alternative wanes.