The conservative media landscape has been in a near-constant state of flux ever since Elon Musk announced his bid to acquire Twitter, casting a pall on a major rallying point for alternative media – that of censorship and free speech. Now, the latest antics of Kanye West, who currently goes by the name Ye, have created further upheaval, prompting Parler to cancel its acquisition agreement with West and spurring Elon Musk to block the controversial rapper’s Twitter account. Ye has been a polarizing personality for quite some time on the back of his ardent support of Donald Trump as well as his antisemitic rhetoric. Back in October, Adidas ended its $1.5 billion Yeezy deal with Kanye West. Bear in mind that this deal earned Ye around $500 million in royalty payments and marketing fees over the four years through 2020. The company also ended the production of Yeezy-branded goods with immediate effect. Moreover, Gap and Foot Locker also abandoned their association with Ye.
— Parler (@parler_app) December 1, 2022 However, one of the most significant setbacks to Ye’s media-related ambitions came yesterday when Parler and Kanye West “mutually agreed” to call off the proposed acquisition. As we reported back in October, Parler had entered into an “agreement in principle” to sell the company to Ye a few weeks back. Interestingly, Parler’s tweet yesterday only mentions an “intent of sale” and not a definitive agreement, casting doubts on the supposed solidity of the original understanding.
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) December 2, 2022 To make matters worse, Elon Musk has now suspended Ye’s Twitter account.
Frankly, I found those pics to be helpful motivation to lose weight! — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 2, 2022 As per Musk’s own clarification, Ye’s account was suspended for “incitement to violence” and not for disseminating an “unflattering” pic of the CEO of Tesla, as had been postulated by a number of Musk fans.
Same mission.Faster innovation.More transparency.https://t.co/mNBerk4vPE — Twitter Business (@TwitterBusiness) November 30, 2022 Meanwhile, Twitter officially unveiled the “Twitter 2.0” vision on the 30th of November. The new Twitter will apparently guarantee freedom of speech but not “freedom of reach,” indicating that the visibility of troublesome content will be curtailed. This move comes as a number of high-profile advertisers have suspended their ad campaigns on the global town square as they assess the company’s new direction under Elon Musk. Of course, the recent banning of Ye’s Twitter account calls into question the extent to which Elon Musk is willing to enforce his commitment to freedom of speech.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022 In other news, it appears that the feud between Apple and the CEO of Tesla has ended. The controversy began when Elon Musk claimed that Apple was preparing to offload the Twitter app from the App Store and that the iPhone manufacturer had “mostly” stopped its advertisements on the global town square. Musk then followed up these allegations with a litany of tweets stressing the importance of freedom of speech.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 30, 2022 However, this controversy seems to have ended with Musk touring Apple’s headquarters yesterday. Where do you think the conservative social media space is heading now that Twitter under Elon Musk has stolen the freedom of speech mantra? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
