Rapper Kanye West, who is now legally known as Ye, could be in control of the right-wing social media network Parler by the end of the year.
The move comes after Ye's Twitter and Instagram accounts were suspended over anti-Semitic posts.
When Parler announced the proposed sale to users, it did so by failing to blind copy them according to entrepreneur Adam Ryan who tweeted: "Now hundreds of people are replying and everyone has access to the personal emails of many verified users and Parler investors".
In the email shared by Ryan, the Parler Outreach Team writes: "While we can't share all the details just yet, we expect the sale to be complete by the end of this year".
Parler is owned by Parlement Technologies. It's chief executive, George Farmer (who is married to conservative commentator Candace Owens), said in a statement that Parler welcomed Ye's interest in purchasing the platform.
"This deal will change the world, and change the way the world thinks about free speech.
"Ye is making a groundbreaking move into the free speech media space and will never have to fear being removed from social media again."
Ye is also quoted in the statement, saying:
"In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves."
What is Parler?
If you're only just now hearing about Parler for the first time, it's a social media network that bills itself as "the premier global free speech platform".
It was launched in August 2018, but didn't start gaining momentum till 2020 when the pandemic set in and Black Lives Matter protests picked up following the death of African American man George Floyd.
Parler was kicked offline in January 2021 over its ties to the deadly insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6 that year. It announced a relaunch a few weeks after the attack and returned to Google Play last month.
The acquisition could give Parler a new lease on life. It's struggled with competition from other conservative-friendly platforms like Truth Social, which was started by former US President Donald Trump.
According to the market research firm Data.ai, which tracks mobile app usage, Truth Social had 2.4 million monthly users for the first half of this year compared to Parler's 983,000. Another right-leaning platform Gettr has 3.8 million monthly active users. But Twitter dwarfs each of these platforms with a daily average of about 237.8 million active users reported during its most recent quarter.
These right-wing platforms mostly sprung up in opposition to restrictions at mainstream platforms like Twitter, with billionaire businessman Elon Musk pledging to challenge the content moderation there if he follows through with his takeover bid of the company later this month.
'Big, expensive vanity project'
Analysts have reacted to news of Ye's proposed acquisition. Social media consultant Matt Navarra suggested Ye is being "hoodwinked" into buying Parler, a platform he thinks will be far less valuable in the coming months and years.
"This is going to be a big, expensive vanity project more than anything else," Navarra said.
"I think it's actually probably quite desperate for somebody with lots of money and maybe not a clear understanding of social media to buy it out and take it over, whilst there is some value there that they can kind of can persuade someone to buy it from them."
The co-founder and managing partner of Metaforce, Allen Adamson, also isn't convinced of the merits of the sale.
"It's just an example of somebody with lots of money getting upset that he was recently pushed off of Twitter and other social media to say, 'Hey, I'm not going to be silenced by somebody else. I'm just going to go buy my own social network'."
Why social media outlets are banning Ye
Ye has been blocked from posting on Twitter and Instagram over posts the social networks said violated their policies.
In one post on Twitter, Ye said he would soon go "death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE".
Ye later said in an interview on the Drink Champs podcast that he spelt the word wrong (the US defence readiness condition scale is known as DEFCON) and that DEFCON means "you're preparing to protect yourself".
Ye is no stranger to controversy. He once suggested slavery was a choice and was also criticised for donning a "White Lives Matter" T-shirt at Paris Fashion Week earlier this month, alongside Owens.
Anti-hate organisation the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has called the term hate speech.
"'White Lives Matter' is a white supremacist phrase that originated in early 2015 as a racist response to the Black Lives Matter movement, which arose to protest against police brutality against African-Americans," ADL said in a statement.
Ye, who has also called the COVID-19 vaccine "the mark of the beast", suffers from Bipolar disorder and claims his mental illness is often used by media outlets to discredit him.
– With wires
