Starboard Acquires Parler And Will Temporarily Close The Social Media Platform

Parler will temporarily close after being acquired by Starboard. (photo: dock. parler)

JAKARTA - Digital media conglomerate Starboard announced on Friday April 14 that it had purchased Parler in an undisclosed amount and would temporarily close the popular social media app among US conservatives. This was done to give itself time to release a new version of the platform.

The move comes months after a failed deal that would see American rapper Kanye West, now known as Ye, buys the platform's parent company, Parliament Technologies.

Starboard, formerly known as Olympic Media and founded in 2018, has conservative-oriented American Wire and BizPac Review platforms. The company plans to serve "unsupported online communities" and build houses for them "far from the hands of ad hoc regulations from platforms they hate."

Arlington-based conglomerate Virginia did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for details on the terms of the deal. However, Starboard said that this acquisition would be a merger going forward by the end of the second quarter of 2023.

Pada September lalu, Parler mengumumkan bahwa mereka telah direstrukturisasi menjadi Parliament Technologies Inc dan membeli perusahaan layanan cloud swasta Dynascale Inc yang berbasis di Irvine, California.

Parler, founded five years ago, was allowed back at Google and app store Apple Inc after being removed from the platform following riots in the US Capitol in January 2021.

Parler is one of several social media platforms, including Gettr, Gab, and Truth Social, which place themselves as an alternative to free speech for Twitter Inc before being acquired by billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

"No one is natural to believe that Twitter clones only for conservatives are a viable business anymore," Starboard added.