Right-wing social media platform Parler taken down after acquisition

The company was in talks to be bought out by rapper Ye last year

Parler, a conservative social media platform, has been temporarily shut down following its acquisition by digital media company Starboard. Reuters

Parler, a conservative social media platform, has been temporarily shut down following its acquisition by digital media company Starboard.

Starboard, formerly known as Olympic Media, concluded the acquisition of Parler on Friday for an undisclosed amount.

“No reasonable person believes that a Twitter clone just for conservatives is a viable business any more,” Starboard said in a statement on the Parler website.

While the current version of the Parler app will be taken down for a “strategic assessment”, there are “significant” opportunities to support communities that are marginalised or subjected to censorship in various sectors, Starboard said.

Parler, which was used to co-ordinate the January 6 riots on the US Capitol in 2021, was in talks to be acquired by rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, last year.

However, Parler later said that it had mutually agreed with Ye to terminate the agreement in the “interest of both parties”, according to media reports.

“Parler’s large user base and additional strategic assets represent an enormous opportunity for Starboard to continue to build aggressively in our media and publishing business,” said Ryan Coyne, chief executive of Starboard.

“The team at Parler has built an exceptional audience and we look forward to integrating that audience across all of our existing platforms.”

Starboard, which operates in sectors such as advertising and fund-raising, expects the deal to be accretive by the second of quarter of this year.