American rapper Kanye West announced on Monday his intention to buy the social network Parler, particularly popular with conservatives in the United States and those close to Donald Trump.
“In a world where conservative views are deemed controversial, we must ensure that we have the right to express ourselves freely,” said the man who now calls himself Ye in a statement published by Parler.
The amount of the transaction, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2022, was not disclosed.
Kanye West has found himself in recent days at the heart of several controversies, in particular for having worn a t-shirt diverting the anti-racist slogan “Black Lives Matter” and for having published on Instagram and Twitter comments deemed anti-Semitic.
His accounts had been restricted after these posts highlighting the supposed influence of the Jewish community.
“Ye is taking a revolutionary step into the free speech media space and will never have to worry about being taken off social media again,” said George Farmer, CEO of Parler.
“Once again, Ye proves he is one step ahead of the mainstream media narrative,” Farmer added.
Launched in 2018, Parler saw its popularity skyrocket after Donald Trump was permanently ousted from Twitter shortly after the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, when the former US president was accused of inciting his supporters of violence.
But Apple and Google, deploring the increasing threats of violence and illegal activity on the network, quickly removed it from their download platforms.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) had also decided to no longer host it on its servers, effectively ostracizing the platform.
Parler has been accepted again on the App Store since April 2021 and on the Google Play Store since September 2021.
The network calls itself “a driving force in the fight against Big Tech, Big Government, censorship and cancel culture”.
Truth Social, the network launched by Mr. Trump, was again approved by the Google Play Store last week after agreeing to update its policy on the removal of messages inciting violence.