Musician Kanye West, who legally changed his name to Ye, confirmed Monday his plan to purchase the Parler social media platform to “protect conservative speech” in America.

“In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves,” said West in a written statement.

The move comes hours after Kanye was locked out of Instagram and Twitter for posting remarks considered by many to be anti-Semitic; writing “I’m about to go death con 3 no Jewish People.”

 

Parler CEO George Farmer unveiled the plan to users through an email to subscribers.

I am sure you have questions, and I’d like to answer a few right here. Firstly, Ye’s acquiring of Parler will strengthen our ability to create an uncancelable ecosystem. No one should have to self-censor out of uncertainty about which legal speech will get him or her banned. No individual or business should worry about being completely deplatformed, as Parler was, merely for the expression of opposing viewpoints. Groupthink is, and always has been, more dangerous than independent thinking.

The current Parler staff you’ve come to know —many of whom you’ve interacted with— will still be working on the app, and the platform will continue to utilize Dynascale’s cloud services.

Parler will remain a place where everyone can think, listen, and speak freely. We will continue the fight against censorship, cancel culture, and authoritarianism.

While I cannot provide all the details today, I have complete confidence that Parler, as both a platform and a community, will experience the limitless growth it deserves.  

This is a developing story…