If you take a wealthy man’s voice away, he goes and buys a whole new platform to yell from.
Kanye West (or Ye as he likes to be known legally) has gotten himself into a bit of a situation. Recently, Ye was found to be posting antisemitic comments on Twitter. Antisemitism or pointed hate towards people of the Jewish community is a violation of Twitter policy. Like many other thousands and dare I say, millions, of people Ye most likely knew that – yet his comments were posted anyway.
The platform quickly saw the comments and booted Ye from its platform. This isn’t the first time the rap star has been censored on social media. It will most lily not be the last. On numerous occasions, Ye has posted other people’s private information when arguing with them. He has also made several questionable and near-threatening comments and posts as well. Now, standard social media may be washing their hands of his presence.
Ye has a solution to that predicament though, as he refuses to be silenced. He has bought himself a social media platform so he doesn’t have to worry about anyone censoring him again.
On October 17th PR NewsWire announced Parler was being acquired by Ye himself. CEO Geroge Farmer stated,
“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.”
Now, if you are not familiar with Parler, it is a free speech platform, and though that is what they advertise as, it is home to mostly far-right or right-leaning individuals, as well as those whose thoughts and opinions have gotten them banned or censored on traditional social media.
I wonder if the move to Parler for Ye will attract new people to sign up. It is certainly getting a lot of attention. However, it’s not as established as Twitter and Instagram. I think we may see some movement over to Parler but not a grand migration as the company is probably hoping for.
There is certainly a possibility that people will start to use Parler and its user base can become more diverse. Its social media free speech movement can become more evident with different opinions and thoughts. I just don’t believe it will happen. Especially due to the fact the CEO Mr. Farmer and his wife, Candence Owens, are far-right political figures. They themselves do not welcome differing opinions.
I believe Ye’s purchase of Parler will only serve to make hateful voices louder. In a world where we need to band together as people, hate will only continue to divide us.
A native New Englander who migrated to Austin on a whim, Stephanie Dominique is a freelance copywriter, novelist, and certificate enthusiast. When she's not getting howled at by two dachshunds or inhaling enough sugar to put a giant into shock, she is reading, cooking or writing about her passions.
