Parler Taken Offline After Acquisition by Digital Media Conglomerate Starboard
Date
4/17/2023 6:23:38 AM
(MENAFN) Parler, a social media platform widely used by conservative supporters of former United States President Donald Trump, has been taken offline following its acquisition by digital media conglomerate Starboard. The new owner of the platform, previously known as Olympic Media, announced the acquisition on Friday, stating that Parler "as it is currently constituted" has been shut down for a strategic assessment.
While the new owners have not specified when Parler will return or what changes will be introduced, starboard has stated that it sees "tremendous opportunities across multiple sectors to continue to serve marginalized or even outright censored communities." This indicates that Starboard plans to expand Parler's reach beyond its current conservative-leaning user base.
Moreover, the new owners have emphasized that a "Twitter clone just for conservatives" is no longer a viable business. Instead, Starboard CEO Ryan Coyne stated that the company is looking forward to integrating Parler's audience "across all of our existing platforms."
Starboard, founded by Coyne in 2018, is home to several other conservative-leaning platforms such as American Wire and BizPac Review. The company expects the Parler acquisition deal to be accretive by the end of the second quarter of 2023.
This move comes after Parler faced significant controversy earlier this year when it was accused of allowing extremist content and hate speech to spread on its platform. Following these accusations, Apple and Google removed Parler from their app stores, and Amazon Web Services terminated its hosting services, leading to the platform's temporary shutdown in January.
The acquisition by Starboard presents an opportunity for Parler to re-evaluate its policies and practices and potentially re-emerge as a more inclusive social media platform. It remains to be seen how the new owners will steer Parler's direction and which changes they will introduce to the platform. For now, users will have to wait for further announcements from Starboard regarding Parler's future.
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