Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, has entered into an agreement to buy the alternative social media platform Parler. (Photo illustration by Chris Delmas/AFP via Getty Images)

Parler’s parent company recently announced that Kanye West (who is legally known as Ye) plans to buy the alternative social media site. The move comes after Twitter and Instagram restricted West’s accounts in response to a series of antisemitic comments he made earlier this month.

Parler is one of several new options in the social media universe, many of which explicitly present themselves as alternatives to more established platforms, especially by opposing free speech restrictions they say are rife at other sites.

A recent Pew Research Center report looked at Parler and six other alternative social media sites (BitChute, Gab, Gettr, Rumble, Telegram and Truth Social) that have created small but generally satisfied communities of news consumers. Amid the news of West’s potential acquisition of Parler, here are facts about the platform, based on the recent study:

• Parler is the best known of the seven alternative social media sites asked about in the Center’s recent survey, with 38% of U.S. adults saying they have heard of it. That said, only 1% of Americans say they regularly get news on Parler. Overall, just 6% of Americans regularly get news from at least one of the seven sites studied, and no single site is used for news by more than 2% of U.S. adults.

• In its “about” section and terms of service, Parler explicitly identifies itself as supporting free speech. Parler also describes itself as an alternative to Big Tech and says it is opposed to censorship.

• A review of the site’s moderation features found that Parler moderates user content at least to some extent (beyond spam and legal requirements). Parler’s app was removed from the Google and Apple app stores after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol because organizers reportedly used the app to help plan the event. The app was returned to each store only after adding moderation features requested by Google and Apple.
• Among regular news consumers on Parler, 69% say they expect the news and information there to be mostly accurate, while 30% expect it to be mostly inaccurate.

• Among those who regularly get news on Parler, 66% say news on Parler helped them better understand current events, while 12% say news there made them more confused about current events. The remainder say the news there doesn’t make much of a difference.

• About half (52%) of those who regularly get news on Parler say they are very or somewhat satisfied with the experience of getting news there, while 27% are very or somewhat dissatisfied and the rest give a neutral assessment.

• Among those who regularly get news on Parler, 61% say discussions they see on the site are mostly friendly, while 16% say they see mostly unfriendly discussions and 20% say they see about an equal mix of friendly and unfriendly discussions.

• Among those who regularly get news on Parler, 55% say they interact with news posts at least sometimes, and 38% say they post about news themselves at least sometimes on the site.
• In a review of a sample of the 200 most prominent accounts on Parler (selected from those with the highest number of followers), 86% of prominent accounts are individuals and 9% are organizations.
• When it comes to what values or other appeals these 200 prominent accounts have in their profiles, 68% have a reference to some kind of value or political orientation or identity appeal. A little under half (44%) have a reference to being right-leaning or pro-Trump, 23% have a reference to patriotism or a pro-America message, and 19% express a religious identity.

• What do people on Parler talk about? A review of posts from these 200 prominent accounts from June 2022 found that 64% of accounts posted about guns and gun rights, 54% posted about the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, 54% posted about abortion, 46% posted about LGBTQ issues and 38% posted about vaccines.

• About one-in-ten prominent accounts on Parler (12%) had their account on another social media site banned or demonetized (i.e., their access to revenue-sharing partnerships like advertising was revoked). This is lower than the share on BitChute (35%) and Rumble (22%) but comparable to the share on Gettr (13%), Gab and Telegram (12% each).
• In terms of user privacy, Parler allows users to control who accesses their posts and the comments on their posts, and it gives users the ability to modify privacy settings. Parler also says it won’t sell user data and doesn’t have targeted third-party ads.
• Parler has several revenue streams. The platform is exploring crypto as a revenue source through a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace it hosts called DeepRedSky, which features NFTs from Parler itself, as well as partners like The Babylon Bee. Parler also generates revenue through merchandise.

• Overall, about two-thirds of those who regularly get news from at least one of the seven alternative social media sites (66%) identify as Republicans or lean toward the Republican Party. This is far higher than the share who identify as Democrats or lean Democratic (33%). In comparison, those who get news on at least one of the three larger social media sites studied – Facebook, Twitter and YouTube – are more likely to be Democrats or Democratic-leaning than Republican.

Note: Here are the questions used for the report cited in this post, detailed tables, and the methodology.