Digital media company buys conservative social media app Parler

April 14 (UPI) -- Digital media conglomerate Starboard announced Friday it has acquired Parler and will temporarily shut down and reassess the social media app used by many conservatives.

Parler was founded in 2018 and was presented as a conservative alternative to platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. The app was dropped from Google and Apple stores after it was used by rioters to coordinate the January 6, 2021, breach of the Capitol Building in Washington.

"Starboard (formerly Olympic Media) announced today that it has concluded the acquisition of Parler, the world's pioneering uncancelable free speech platform," Starboard said in a statement Friday. "No reasonable person believes that a Twitter clone just for conservatives is a viable business any more."

"While the Parler app as it is currently constituted will be pulled down from operation to undergo a strategic assessment, we at Starboard see tremendous opportunities across multiple sectors to continue to serve marginalized or even outright censored communities -- even extending beyond domestic politics," the statement said.

The announcement cited advances in computer coding and AI as a way for the app to possibly reach out to what it called "unsupported online communities" in the future.

Starboard did not disclose the financial details of the acquisition but said the company "expects the deal to be accretive by the end of Q2 2023."

"Parler's large user base and additional strategic assets represent an enormous opportunity for Starboard to continue to build aggressively in our media and publishing business," said Starboard CEO Ryan Coyne.