Four months after the canceled takeover by US artist Kanye West (Ye), Parler has now been bought by Starboard and subsequently closed. It is not known how much the US media company paid for the social network, which is particularly popular with right-wing and right-wing extremists. Nor what Starboard intends to do with Parler. “No sensible person anymore believes that a Twitter clone is only a viable business model for conservatives,” says a press release that is now displayed instead of the social network’s home page. The app will undergo a strategic realignment, it says there. One sees “enormous opportunities” to serve “marginalized or even directly censored communities” in the future – also outside of the USA.
Probably no future for Parler
Parler has described itself as a platform for free speech, spreading the narrative that it is in danger. The new head of Twitter, Elon Musk, has repeatedly said so. Parler is a counter-offer to the usual social networks, which, however, take much more action against false information, racism and hate speech – which Twitter has recently refrained from doing. During and after the 2020 US presidential election, the network saw a surge in popularity, with supporters of Donald Trump flocking here as his false voter fraud allegations were not deleted here. Trump’s wife Melania has announced that she will make Parler her “social media home,” but her husband continues to use his own Twitter alternative called “Truth Social.”
Last October, Kanye West – who is now officially called Ye – and Parler operator Parlement Technologies made the plans for a takeover public. In the weeks that followed, Elon Musk took over Twitter and, among other things, released the account of Kanye West/Ye, which had previously been blocked for anti-Semitic statements. However, because West/Ye then shared the picture of a swastika in a Star of David, Twitter blocked him again. West/Ye then also explained that he didn’t like the word “evil” in connection with Nazis, he loved them. Parler then explained that the planned takeover had been canceled “by mutual agreement”.
The future owner Starboard now explains, the Parler team has built an “extraordinary audience” and they look forward to integrating that into their existing proprietary platforms. That sounds like the company was primarily concerned with user data, which is now to be used for other purposes. The deal is expected to be finalized by mid-year.
(my)
