Parler, the ‘social speech’-oriented social network that attracted many right-wing and extremist voices, remains offline a few days after the company’s management canceled its CEO. The site stays in the news, but as a BuzzFeed News the report cites documents that apparently show negotiations between the Trump Organization and Parler over an agreement to make the site its primary social network.
While the former president used Twitter directly, and strongly supported his campaign on Facebook during both presidential elections, he never officially joined Parler. It’s unclear why he did not take his talents to a friendlier environment, even after being weakened by the major social networks and allowed to negotiate with other sites, but it may fill some gaps.
While the BuzzFeed report does not reveal direct involvement by Trump himself, the documents they saw show that Parler is offering a 40 percent stake in the company if he were to place hours ahead of the other content on his platform. The talks are said to have taken place during the campaign last summer, and again in November after the president lost his re-election campaign.
Former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale is quoted as saying the president was not involved in the talks. However, legal experts state that if this were to happen, the possession of an interest in exchange for exclusivity could violate anti-bribery laws.