What is Parler? Some facts about Kanye’s new “Conservative Twitter”
Apologies for these not being particularly ‘fun’ facts, back to normal next week!
The rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, recently acquired social media platform Parler. In March 2022 Ye was banned from Instagram for 24 hours for hate speech, harassment, and bullying after he allegedly wrote a racial slur on Noah’s IG page. Following this Ye was banned from performing at the Grammy Awards. In October 2022 West’s Twitter account was locked and his account was “restricted,” following anti-Semitic messages.
I’m going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE
Kanye West, Twitter , Oct 2022
Parler is worth at least $1 billion
On October 17th 2022 West agreed to buy right-wing social media platform Parler for an undisclosed sum. Parler is a safe haven for those who have been banned from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other mainstream platforms.
Parler’s valuation was “approaching $1 billion” in March 2021, according to court records filed by the company’s lawyers, when the app had over 12 million users.
Parler is funded by conservative billionaire Trump-backer Robert Mercer. The Mercers funded Cambridge Analytica which stole the personal information of 87 million people without their consent and used harvested information to manipulate the US election and Brexit referendum.
Kanye West is worth $4 billion
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Kanye West’s net worth is $4 billion. Kanye West is one of the the three richest self-made black people in US history.
Parler’s Chief Policy Officer is an Objectivist
Parler’s Chief Policy Officer, Amy Peikoff is a lawyer who champions objectivism and worked with The Association for Objective Law, which promotes Objectivism in the legal sector. She has talked on Objectivism to many American universities. She is occasional guest host of conservative radio programme The Tammy Bruce Show.
Objectivists believe selfishness is a fundamental virtue and altruism is a sin
https://www.britannica.com/topic/objectivism-philosophy
At least 17 UK Conservative MPs/Ministers are on Parler
- Ranil Jayawardena MP | Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
- Michael Gove | Conservative MP Secretary of State for Levelling Up 2021-2022
- Steve Baker | Conservative MP for Wycombe | Minister of State Northern Ireland
- James Cleverly | Conservative MP for Braintree – Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs – Follows Hartley-Brewer who is climate change denier and Enoch Powell supporter
- Andrew RT Davies | Leader of The Welsh Conservative Party
- Dean Russel | Conservative MP Watford
- Nadine Dorries | Conservative Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from 2021 to 2022
- Maria Caulfield | Conservative MP for Lewes
- Nigel Adams | Conservative MP for Selby and Ainsty former Minister of State
- Paul Howell | Conservative MP for Sedgefield
- Henry Smith | Conservative MP West Sussex
- Alice Hopkin | Conservative Special Adviser to the Foreign Secretary
- Rob Roberts | Conservative MP for Delyn in North Wales
- Mark Jenkinson | Member of Parliament for Workington
- Ben Bradley | Conservative MP for Mansfield (Follows Rudy Guiliani; currently under investigation for fraud in the 2020 election)
- Craig Mackinlay | Conservative MP for South Thanet
- Douglas Carswell | former Conservative MP and cofounder of Vote Leave
- Matt Smith, Welsh Conservative (follows Katie Hopkins who said migrants are like cockroaches who should be stopped by gunships)
- Boris Johnson appears to have been a member as he was linked to on Gove’s profile but has since deleted his account
- Note; not all of these have the Gold Badge verification
In 2020 at least 32 Republican Members of Congress were on Parler
Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas
Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky
Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah
Kevin McCarthy and Reps. Devin Nunes of California, Matt Gaetz of Florida and Ken Buck of Colorado.
and more.
Most Parler Users are American
Parler was instrumental in the Capitol Hill attacks and later banned by Google, Apple and Amazon
In January 2021 Apple removed Parler from their App Store because it has not taken sufficient steps to stop the proliferation of violent, dangerous and racist messages.
There is no place on our platform for threats of violence and illegal activity. Parler has not taken adequate measures to address the proliferation of these threats to people’s safety. We have suspended Parler from the App Store until they resolve these issues
Statement from Apple, Jan 2021
The Parler app seeks to incite ongoing violence in the US
Google statement after banning the app from Play Store
The ban followed the attack in Washington DC on January 6, 2021, when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building and 138 police officers were injured. Parler was said to be instrumental in the organisation of the extremists.
The same month Amazon stopped providing web hosting services to Parler.
Amazon told Parler it was suspending its Amazon Web Services (AWS) because it was not acting quickly enough against violent content on the platform.
https://time.com/5929888/amazon-parler-aws/
In May 2021 Parler was allowed back on the Apple App Store after making some changes and in September 2022 it was allowed back on Google Play Store. Parler has since found alternative web hosting with Skysilk; an LA company whose CEO Kevin Matossian, produced the Lost TV series.
Social media users comparison
- Parler 1.62 million*
- Truth Social 2 million
- Twitter 450 million
- Instagram 1.21 billion
- WhatsApp 2 billion
- Facebook 2.91 billion
With 8.1 million new installs, the app was the 10th most downloaded social media app in 2020.
But more recently the number of users has declined. According to Sensor Tower, the app was downloaded 90,000 times last month globally, compared to 9 million downloads for Twitter.
*as of the end of November 2021
Parler users
Many Parler users were banned from mainstream social networks for inciting hatred and violence and spreading misinformation. Users include:
- Qanon conspiracy theorists
- White supremacists
- NRA lobbyists
- Neo nazis
- Saudia Arabian supporters of the king
- Donald Trump (who once banned all Muslims from entering America)
- Candace Owens (Conservative activist and Hitler supporter)
- Alex Jones (who said Sandy Hook was a hoax and led conspiracy theorists to accuse parents of faking their own children’s deaths)
- Katie Hopkins
- David Icke
Topics include anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, inciting domestic terrorism, inciting violence against minorities, promoting guns, racism, homophobia, transphobia, anti-vac conspiracies, reptilian conspiracy theories, right-wing extremism etc.
There is no active moderation. Parler relies on users to block people for themselves or report offensive material.
Bonus fact: The company’s name was taken from the French word “parler”, which means “to speak”, although is now pronounced ‘parlour.’
Sources:
Conservative platform Parler says it warned FBI of ‘specific threats of violence’ ahead of Capitol riot – Washington Post
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parler
Ye Wants to Buy Social Media Platform Parler — but Can He Afford It? – Market Realist
https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/richest-rappers/kanye-west-net-worth/
https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/9/22221730/apple-removes-suspends-bans-parler-app-store
https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/kanye-west-parler-net-worth-b2204225.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Analytica#Data_scandal
BBC News – Kanye West agrees to buy right-wing platform Parler
https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/parler/people
What is the Parler social media app and who owns it right now? – Evening Standard
