Trump Organisation sought ownership stake in Parler

The Trump Organisation on behalf of former US President Donald Trump was in negotiations with Parler to make the app his primary social network, reports Buzzfeed.

According to the report, the Trump Organisation wanted ownership in the platform. The deal was never finalised. The negotiations were held when Trump was still in office, added the report.

Former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale told the publication that Trump was not involved in the negotiations.

“The president was never part of the discussions,” Parscale told BuzzFeed News. “The discussions were never that substantive. And this was just one of many things the campaign was looking into to deal with the cancel culture of Silicon Valley.”

The report further said that Parler had offered a 40% stake in the company.

Parler had become immensely popular before and during the US Presidential elections. The hands-off approach to content moderation attracted right-wing users many of whom were Trump supporters. The popularity of Parler came at a time when mainstream social networking platforms such as Facebook, Google (YouTube), and Twitter took unprecedented steps to crack down on misinformation and hate speech. During the elections, we saw Twitter blocking and labelling many posts from Trump.

ALSO READ: Tim Cook says Parler can return to App Store but with reforms

Parler’s growth, however, was short-lived as the app drew ire for reportedly playing a role in inciting Capital Hill violence on January 6. Following the violence, Parler was dropped from Google and Apple app stores. Amazon also pulled its server support for the platform, forcing it to go offline.

Even as Parler is unlikely to return anytime sooner, its board has dismissed CEO John Matze. Matze, sharing a story from Fox Business, which earlier reported the news, said that “this is not a goodbye. Just a so long for now.”