Kanye West To Buy 'Free Speech' Social Media Platform Parler, Company Says

Kanye West has agreed to buy a 'free speech' social media platform.

Credit: Abaca Press / Alamy

The rapper - who legally changed his name to 'Ye' - is set to purchase Parler, which fashions itself as a 'free speech' alternative to Twitter.

West's latest buy comes after posts deemed antisemitic by many people saw him banned from both Instagram and Twitter.

Parler's parent company Parlement Technologies announced the news in a press release today (Monday, October 17). In the release, the company described Parler as "the world's pioneering uncancelable free speech platform," and praised West's "bold stance" against "censorship".

"Ye has become the richest Black man in history through music and apparel and is taking a bold stance against his recent censorship from Big Tech, using his far-reaching talents to further lead the fight to create a truly non-cancelable environment," the statement read.

Credit: LANDMARK MEDIA / Alamy

It goes on to promise that West's acquisition of Parler will help to create an "uncancelable ecosystem where all voices are welcome".

The rapper, meanwhile, spoke about why freedom of speech is particularly important at this juncture in history.

"In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves," the 45-year-old said.

As for how much West will pay for the platform, that and other financial details of the deal are still yet to be revealed. So far, all that has been disclosed is that both parties plan to complete the acquisition by the end of 2022.

Twitter removed West from their platform on October 9 after he tweeted that he was going to go "death con 3" on Jewish people.

In the same tweet that was later removed and replaced with text that said it infringed the policies, West alleged that he wasn’t "Anti Semitic because black people are actually [Jews]."

Credit: Kanye West's deleted tweet

The 'Flashing Lights' musician's account is still visible on the platform, and Twitter did not specify how long his account would be locked or when the user would be able to tweet again.

Shortly after West's tweet, the Anti-Defamation League spoke out against him by taking to social media to publish a brief statement addressing the "dangerous" tweet.

Power. Disloyalty. Greed. Deicide. Blood. Denial. Anti-Zionism. All of these are antisemitic tropes that we break down in our #AntisemitismUncovered Guide at https://t.co/1D3LOM8xXQ. Many of these myths have influenced @KanyeWest's comments recently, and it's dangerous. https://t.co/fKQLPFkDR2

— ADL (@ADL) October 9, 2022

"Power. Disloyalty. Greed. Deicide. Blood. Denial. Anti-Zionism," the statement reads. "All of these are antisemitic tropes that we break down in our #AntisemitismUncovered Guide at antisemitism.adl.org."

"Many of these myths have influenced @KanyeWest's comments recently, and it's dangerous," the organization concluded in their post.

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