The last hours of Thursday have been quite chaotic for Kanye West. He has not only been banned from Twitter again, but also has run out of the opportunity to buy Parler, the controversial social network dedicated to “freedom of expression”. This was confirmed by Parlement Technologies, the firm behind the app, through a brief statement.
The reasons behind the cancellation of the purchase by Kanye West have not been disclosed. From Parler they have only mentioned that the decision it was by mutual agreement with the artist, without offering further details. What is truly striking is that the acquisition was reportedly decommissioned in mid-November, but nothing was ever said about it.
“Parler will continue to seek future growth opportunities and the evolution of the platform for our vibrant community,” they concluded from the social network. Thus, the rapper’s attempt to take control of the controversial platform lasted just a month.
Recall that Kanye West announced that he would buy Parler in mid-October, just days after being suspended from Twitter and Instagram for anti-Semitic comments. At first, the news generated some noise, but then it faded without much impact. Although it is also important to mention that, barely a week later, a certain Elon Musk ended up turning the world upside down after becoming the new owner of Twitter.
The truth is that the terms of the purchase of Parler by Kanye West were not too clear either. It was never mentioned how much the artist would pay to keep the social network, nor was it specified whether he would play a daily role in managing it. From the platform, meanwhile, they had only indicated that the acquisition would allow them to create a “non-cancelable ecosystem”.
Kanye West backs out of buying Parler
Since Kanye West announced his intention to acquire Parler, a lot has happened. As we already said, Elon Musk took control of the bird’s social network and allowed the rapper – until then, his friend – to regain access to his account.
However, the artist has seen the exit door again after posting an image of a swastika next to the Star of David. Although everything indicates that the suspension of your account this time is temporary. According to a screenshot that West himself posted on his account on Truth Social, Donald Trump’s social network, his profile will remain inactive for 12 hours. We’ll see if he gets it back after that period.
Returning to the Parler acquisition, a spokesperson for the platform told Engadget that the decision not to proceed with the transaction would have been motivated by the “commercial difficulties” of the artist. Let’s remember that since the scandal broke out over his anti-Semitic comments, Kanye West has lost multiple sponsorships and collaborations. The most notorious cases have been the cases of Adidas, Vogue and Balenciaga, among others.
It is estimated that Parler currently has 250,000 active users per month on iOS and Android; a tiny reach when compared to Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. The social network had its moment of greatest exposure in the United States during the presidency of Donald Trump, but was about to disappear after the Assault on the Capitol, in January 2021.
After this event, Google and Apple withdrew it from their application stores, while Amazon refused to provide it with servers for its operation. And although he managed to slowly reappear on the scene, nor did Kanye West’s purchase attempt manage to give it new impetus. Thus, the future of the self-proclaimed “freedom of expression social network” today does not look very promising.