On Monday, Elon Musk reacted to news that Kanye West intends to purchase Parler, a conservative alternative social media site, after the artist and designer was banned from Twitter and Instagram.
In a now-deleted tweet, Musk posted a meme of himself and West standing in a “fusion” pose, a la Dragon Ball, with the logos of Twitter on Musk’s shirt and Parler on West’s. Below that tweet, he simply said, “Fun times ahead!!”
West is buying conservative Twitter rival Parler in an attempt to build an “uncancellable” social media app. West, who now goes by the name Ye, claims he’s taking a stance against “censorship from Big Tech.”
“In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves,” Ye said in a statement.
“This deal will change the world, and change the way the world thinks about free speech,” said Parlement Technologies CEO George Farmer. “Ye is making a groundbreaking move into the free speech media space and will never have to fear being removed from social media again. Once again, Ye proves that he is one step ahead of the legacy media narrative. Parlement will be honored to help him achieve his goals.”
Parler, a Twitter alternative, emerged as a social media platform during the Donald Trump era. The platform was founded in 2018 by John Matze and allows users to post images and text as well as share echoes of other users’ posts, not unlike Twitter’s retweets.
While the app stylized itself as a bastion of free speech, it was thrust into the spotlight in 2021 after it was accused of facilitating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. The app was removed from Google Play and Apple’s app stores shortly after the incident. In April 2022, Apple reinstated the app to its store, and it resurfaced on Google Play last month.
Parler recently modified the app to allow users to block and report other users and actively monitor inappropriate content.
West recently sparked controversy after he wore a “White Lives Matter” shirt alongside Candace Owens at a fashion show in Paris.