Melania Trump goes her own way with social network deal

Melania Trump has struck a deal with online platform Parler, despite her ex-president husband preparing to launch his own network.

Melania Trump has announced a deal with Parler, the online platform popular with right-wing groups, to host her social media messages, despite her husband preparing to launch his own network, Truth Social, this month.

In the latest move by the former first lady to relaunch her brand and business after leaving the White House, Parler issued a statement on Wednesday confirming that it had reached a “special … synergistic relationship” with Mrs Trump, who will share “exclusive communications” with the network.

The former first lady praised the social media platform, which she said “empowers its users to foster productive discourse”.

Parler was relaunched last May after it was kicked out of app stores and forced offline by most service providers for failing to flag violent content and hate speech in the run-up to the riot at the US Capitol four months earlier, when Donald Trump supporters stormed the building.

The company was launched in 2018 and positioned itself as a champion of free speech and a rival to mainstream networks such as Twitter and Facebook.

John Matze, Parler’s former chief executive, was fired after the Capitol attack, which torpedoed the business.

THE TIMES