Kanye West Censored by ‘Free Speech’ Platform He Praised

Two weeks ago, news broke that rapper Kanye West—now known as Ye—was planning on buying the right-wing social media site Parler after he was temporarily booted from Instagram and Twitter over antisemitic posts.

Despite West moving to the “free speech” site, however, he still isn’t free from censors, as Parler slapped a West post with a content warning on Friday afternoon.

In a “parley”—the equivalent of a tweet—posted at noon, West wrote that he was “starting to think” the term “anti-Semitic” was just a euphemism for the N-word.

Shortly after the message was sent out, Parler covered up West’s post in its entirety on their platform’s Apple application.

“Apple prohibits this content on IOS Apps. View it on Parler for Web,” the Parler-applied notice now states. Notably, the West post remains live on their website.

Somewhat like Parler, Twitter removed an identical West tweet sent out midday on Friday that included the N-word.

Under Apple’s developer guidelines, the company specifies that developers must ensure their products are free from hate.

The manual has a section dedicated to outlining “objectionable content.” “Apps should not include content that is offensive, insensitive, upsetting, intended to disgust, in exceptionally poor taste, or just plain creepy,” the developer guide states.

Representatives for Parler and a West lawyer didn’t immediately return The Daily Beast’s request for comment on Friday evening. In a press release following the purchase of Parler, West spoke highly of the site plagued by low engagement. “In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial, we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves,” he said.

Parler—once a beloved MAGAworld social media platform—has a long history of running foul of Apple’s rules. Following the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, the app was removed from the Apple app store for violating extremist content guidelines. Over a year later, the app was allowed back on the app store, after Parler placed guardrails on their site—but all the while, would-be users flocked to other right-wing alternatives, including Donald Trump’s Truth Social and Gettr.

Parler covering up West’s post on Friday didn’t go unnoticed by fellow far-wing social media platform rival Gab—which once had a “porn bot” problem they blamed on a competitor.

“Both Parler and Twitter censored Ye’s post, lol,” they wrote.