Kanye West, also known as ‘Ye’, has proposed to buy Parler, a social media platform similar to Facebook and Twitter. Kanye was recently banned from Twitter and Instagram for writing anti-Semitic posts.
Parler, based in Nashville, Tennessee, is popular among conservative voters in the US. It was first launched in 2018 and is considered a free-speech platform. On Monday, Parlement Technologies, the parent company of Parler, said that the deal with Kanye will probably be completed at the end of 2022.
In January 2021, Parler was removed from the Google app store and Apple app store after a riot started at the US Capitol building in Washington D.C. However, Parler recently returned to the app stores.
Kanye was kicked off of Twitter and Instagram last week because of his anti-Semitic posts that violated the companies’ policies.
‘Ye’ often finds himself in controversial situations. He once said that “slavery was a choice,” and was strongly against the COVID-19 vaccine. He also received criticism this month when he wore a “White Lives Matter” t-shirt at the Paris Fashion Week.
Kanye also designs fashion. Recently, he ended a partnership with Gap Inc. Also, Adidas said it was reviewing their relationship with the rapper.
Kanye says that conservative opinions have become controversial, and he wants to make sure that people have the possibility to freely express themselves.
Parler had around 1 million active users in the first half of this year whereas Twitter recently reported around 238 million active users.
VOCABULARY
- Propose – to suggest; to put forward; to recommend; to submit
- Social media – services like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.
- Platform – an online business that provides a service or connects people and businesses
- Ban – to not allow; to stop; to forbid; prohibit;
- Anti-Semitic – hostile to or prejudiced against Jewish people; against Jewish people
- Post – to write or publish something on the internet; to put a message on social media
- Based in – to operate from a location; to do business from that place; set in a location
- Conservative – prefer traditional ideas, don’t like change, support a free business market and private property
- Launch – start selling something; introduce a new product
- Considered – believed to be; regarded as; judged to be;
- Free-speech – the idea that someone can speak and share ideas without being punished or the government stopping you
- Parent company – A company that owns or controls other companies
- Deal – agreement; business contract; arrangement
- Riot – a large number of people behave in a noisy, violent, and uncontrolled way in public; protest
- kick off – to remove; to suspend; to send away
- Violate – break a rule; do something that’s not allowed
- Policy – a set of ideas or plans that is used for making decisions; guidelines; code
- Controversial – something that causes a lot of disagreement or discussion;
- Slavery – condition or situation in which one human/person is owned by another human/person;
- Criticism – a negative comment or negative opinion about something;
- Opinion – a view; belief; point of view; theory; idea
- Express – to show a feeling, opinion, or fact; communicate; convey
Original story from Al Jazeera below:
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