Social media platform Parler, a conservative alternative to Twitter, has been purchased by media conglomerate Starboard, which has shut the app down to undergo a “strategic assessment.”
Users who attempted to use the platform on April 14, 2023, were met with a press release from the new ownership, announcing the acquisition by Starboard (formerly Olympic Media), a media organization that owns BizPacReview.com and American Wire.
The company’s statement immediately takes a strong stance on the spirit of the platform, saying, “No reasonable person believes that a Twitter clone just for conservatives is a viable business any more.”
The company praised now-former CEO George Farmer for his focus on cloud storage and IT infrastructure and says that the new owners will use “advancements in AI technology” along with other new features to “begin servicing unsupported online communities.”
“The team at Parler has built an exceptional audience and we look forward to integrating that audience across all of our existing platforms.” said Ryan Coyne, CEO of Starboard.
According to USA News, Farmer said that he is “very pleased that we have found a home for the Parler brand in Starboard, a brand we know well and have worked with in the past.”
Farmer echoed the sentiment that the asset will move toward cloud services and digital security.
“The Parler asset remains one of the most recognized brands in the alternative social media space, but this sector is no longer our focus area as we continue to grow and accelerate acquisition plans in the Managed Cloud and Security space,” he added.
The free speech platform has had a long road up to this point, as the app was famously de-platformed by Amazon Web Services and the Apple Store in January 2021. The web hosts claimed that the company was not properly moderating content that was considered to be dangerous.
Parler was gaining tremendous momentum at the time as users of Facebook and Twitter grew restless over content moderation and allegations of shadow-banning on those platforms.
In October 2022, rapper Kanye West was reported to be interested in purchasing the platform after he was banned from multiple social media sites, but the deal fell through.
Starboard did not respond to questions from TheBlaze.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!