Kanye West has secured a deal to buy free speech social media platform Parler, according to reports.
Parlement Technologies, Parler’s current owner, has announced that it had reached an agreement in principle to sell the “pioneering uncancelable free speech platform” to rapper West.
West said: “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 music star is an active user on Parler, which pitches itself as a “viewpoint-neutral social media app dedicated to freedom of expression, civil discourse, and user privacy.”
The move comes after West had his Twitter and Instagram accounts restricted last week.
He had tweeted for the first time in two years to complain about his ban from Instagram, with his return having been welcomed by prospective new Twitter owner Elon Musk.
“Welcome back to Twitter, my friend,” he said to West before the rapper was promptly banned from there too.
West has been at the center of a backlash from the Left after he recently wore a “White Lives Matter” shirt to his fashion show in Paris.
He later doubled down on the protest by declaring that Black Lives Matter is “a scam.”
Parler only made its return to the Google Play Store last month, having been removed after the Capitol riots in January 2021.
Google accused Parler of allowing postings that seek “to incite ongoing violence in the US” due to its free speech policies.
It was also taken off the Apple App Store after Jan. 6 but was allowed back on the platform four months later.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk has said that the driving force behind his purchase of Twitter is a will to uphold free speech.
Musk, the world’s richest man, has said he would overturn President Donald Trump’s Twitter ban once the deal is complete.
After a tumultuous few months in which Musk committed to and then attempted to back out of buying Twitter, he has been given a court-issued deadline of 28 October to close the deal or face a trial.
West’s takeover of Parler is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2022.
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