Source: Parler has around 50,000 DAUs and its parent company had been trying over the last few weeks to sell the social network at a “wildly inflated” price (Makena Kelly/The Verge)

Jon Porter / The Verge:
Parler announces it has agreed to be acquired by Kanye West, and says that the deal, expected to close later in 2022, will create an “uncancelable ecosystem”  —  Kanye West, the musician also known as Ye, is buying Parler, a social media platform that styles itself as a “free speech” alternative to Twitter.

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:
Parler’s owner says it “has mutually agreed with Ye to terminate the intent of sale of Parler”, after announcing the deal in October  —  Despite a joint statement between Ye (fka Kanye West) and Parler in October noting that the two had reached an agreement for the rapper to buy …

Makena Kelly / The Verge:
Parler restructures as Parlement Technologies after raising a $16M Series B and acquires Dynascale to offer “uncancelable” cloud services for online businesses  —  On Friday, Parler announced that it was entering the internet infrastructure industry in order to provide new …

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Google reinstates Parler to the Play Store after removing it following the January 6 Capitol attack, citing measures Parler has taken to moderate content  —  A year and a half after it was removed from Google’s Play Store, Parler, a Twitter alternative that attracts conservatives, has returned to the showcase for Android apps.

Newley Purnell / Wall Street Journal:
Ye’s Twitter account is suspended after he tweeted a picture of a swastika merged with a Star of David; Elon Musk replied, saying he violated Twitter rules  —  West, who goes by Ye, recently had his account restored after being banned in October  —  Kanye West Offers to Buy Parler Amid Backlash Over Anti-Semitic Posts

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Twitter alternative Hive temporarily shuts down after researchers found vulnerabilities that would have let hackers access DMs and edit others’ Hive posts  —  The team at the newly popular Twitter alternative Hive is in over their head.  The company has now taken the fairly radical step …