Rumble (website)

Video hosting and cloud services company

Rumble

Type of site

| Video hosting service
Traded as| Nasdaq: RUM
Founded| October 30, 2013; 9 years ago (October 30, 2013)
Headquarters| Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Area served| Worldwide
Founder(s)|

* Chris Pavlovski

Industry|

* Internet
* Video-hosting service

Products| Rumble Viral
JR Tech
Neroku
Locals
Parent| Rumble Inc.
URL| rumble.com
Users| ~78 million users per month as of August, 2022[1]
Launched| October 30, 2013; 9 years ago (October 30, 2013)
Current status| Active

Rumble is an online video platform and cloud services business[2][3] headquartered in Toronto, Ontario with its U.S. headquarters in Longboat Key, Florida.[4] It was founded in October 2013 by Chris Pavlovski, a Canadian technology entrepreneur.[5] The cloud services business is known for hosting Truth Social, and the video platform is popular among American right and far-right users. The platform has been described as part of "alt-tech".

## History[edit]

Rumble was founded in 2013 by Chris Pavlovski as an alternative to YouTube for independent content creators.[6] Pavlovski founded the platform after seeing that Google was prioritizing influencers on YouTube and not small content creators.[7] In its early years, content on Rumble largely consisted of viral videos and news from mainstream media sources as well as videos of children and animals. The platform received a large influx of viewership beginning during the COVID-19 pandemic, with monthly visitors rising from 1.6 million in 2020 to 31.9 million by 2021.[8] In the first nine months of 2021, Rumble generated more than $6.5 million in revenue, mostly from advertisements, but was not profitable.[9]

Rise of viewership in 2020 has been attributed to Representative Devin Nunes, who accused YouTube of overly censoring his channel. Nunes began posting content on the platform with other prominent conservatives, such as Dinesh D'Souza, Dan Bongino, Sean Hannity, and Representative Jim Jordan, following soon after.[5][10][11] On January 11, 2021, Rumble filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google over its search results, seeking damages exceeding $2 billion.[12][13] Rumble alleged that Google manipulates its algorithm so as to favor Google's YouTube over Rumble in Google search results. It also alleges that this reduces its viewership and results in lower advertising revenues.[14] As of August 2022, the case was ongoing.[15]

Rumble received investment from venture capitalists Peter Thiel and J. D. Vance in May 2021, with that round of funding valuing Rumble at around $500 million.[16] A month later, US President Donald Trump joined Rumble in preparation for recording his Ohio campaign rally.[17] In October 2021, Rumble acquired Locals.[18] On December 14, 2021, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) announced that it entered a "wide-ranging technology and cloud services agreement" with Rumble in a statement which also stated that Rumble would operate part of Truth Social as well as TMTG.[19]

In August 2022, Rumble announced plans to provide an online advertising platform known as Rumble Ads, with Truth Social as its first publisher.[20][21] Rumble became a publicly traded company in September 2022, trading on NASDAQ, after merging with a special-purpose acquisition company.[22]

## Design and restrictions[edit]

Rumble promotes itself as being "immune to cancel culture".[23] Along with four other tabs in its main interface, Rumble features "recommended channels" to follow and an "Earnings" tab in its interface.[24] Rumble also allows its users to generate revenue from their videos.[24] Users upload videos that are licensed to Rumble's partners, such as Yahoo! and Microsoft News, after which money made from those videos is directly deposited into the Rumble account of the user.[24]

The platform forbids pornography, harassment, racism, antisemitism, copyright infringement,[25] and illegal content.[5][26][27][28][29] Rumble's policies have drawn criticism from alt-tech platforms for not allowing anti-semitism and racism.[30][31]

Rumble has built its own cloud service infrastructure and video streaming capacity.[9]

## Users and content[edit]

Rumble's video platform is popular among American right,[16][32][33] and far-right users,[8][34][35][36][37] and has been described as part of "alt-tech" by various observers.[38][39][40][41]

Using data from February 2021, researchers noted that several content creators have gained a receptive audience on Rumble after their productions have been pulled from YouTube or Facebook. They include Del Bigtree, Sherri Tenpenny, and Simone Gold.[42][43][44] According to a June 2021 article from Slate, "Pavlovski has recently become more outspoken in accusing Big Tech of censorship and now actively courts prominent conservatives and intellectual dark web figures to join Rumble."[11] It also hosts Truth Social[45] Other channels on Rumble have included America's Funniest Home Videos, Jimmy Dore, Alex Jones of InfoWars, American broadcasting company E. W. Scripps Company, Truly, Hodgetwins, cable news channels Newsmax and One America News Network (OAN), Russian state-controlled international television network RT and news agency organization Reuters.[5][9][24][46] According to Reuters, Rumble is a customer of Reuters which pays to host the agency's content.[47] In August 2021, Rumble announced deals with former Democratic Representative Tulsi Gabbard and The Intercept founder Glenn Greenwald to start posting their videos to the site.[48]

As of August 15, 2022, Rumble reported 78 million monthly active users (MAU).[1] That month, after being banned from most other platforms for hate speech and harmful conduct, kickboxer and social media personality Andrew Tate began posting on Rumble. Tate's move coincided with a significant increase in downloads of the Rumble app.[49][50]

According to an August 2022 Reuters article, Rumble is a better-funded and more mainstream direct competitor to video-hosting site BitChute and Odysee, as all three include misinformation and conspiracy theories, with Rumble moderating more content.[47] Unlike BitChute and Odysee, Rumble does suppress results when searching for some keywords associated with hate speech or extremism, although the content itself is still accessible.[36][47]

## See also[edit]

* Comparison of video hosting services
* List of online video platforms

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b "Rumble Sets New Monthly Active User Record in August Citing Growth Among 'Gen Z' Users" (Press release). September 7, 2022.
2. ^ Primack, Dan (April 26, 2022). "Rumble may top Trump's Truth Social". Axios. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
3. ^ Coster, Helen (December 14, 2021). "Trump's social media venture partners with Canada's Rumble Inc". Reuters. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
4. ^ "Sarasota's County welcomes Rumble". EDC Sarasota County. November 12, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
5. ^ a b c d Silverman, Craig (November 2, 2020). "Can Dan Bongino Make Rumble The Right's New Platform?". Buzzfeed News.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
6. ^ Lorinc, Jacob (June 11, 2021). "This Toronto-based website surged to a half-billion-dollar valuation almost overnight — thanks in part to interest from conservative American investors". Toronto Star. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
7. ^ Castaldo, Joe (January 9, 2022). "How Rumble, a Toronto-based YouTube alternative, became a refuge for the MAGA crowd (with a US$2-billion valuation)". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
8. ^ a b Hissong, Samantha (January 4, 2022). "Rumble Mixes Cat Videos With Covid Misinformation -- and the Right Is Loving It". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 3, 2022.
9. ^ a b c Peters, Jeremy W. (March 28, 2022). "Rumble, the Right's Go-To Video Site, Has Much Bigger Ambitions". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
10. ^ "Meet Rumble, the YouTube rival that's popular with conservatives". Fortune. Retrieved January 19, 2021.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
11. ^ a b Mak, Aaron (June 29, 2021). "Gab Is Furious That Donald Trump Signed Up for Another Right-Wing Social Network". Slate. Retrieved July 1, 2021.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
12. ^ O'Kane, Josh (January 13, 2021). "Toronto video-hosting startup Rumble Inc. sues Google over search result". The Globe And Mail. Retrieved January 14, 2021.`{{cite news}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
13. ^ Rumble, Inc. v. Google LLC, N.D. Cal. docket 4:21-cv-00229, on Court Listener
14. ^ Schechner, Sam (January 12, 2021). "YouTube rival Rumble sues Google over search rankings". Market Watch. Retrieved February 18, 2021.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
15. ^ Robertson, Adi (August 2, 2022). "Rumble's antitrust lawsuit against Google can proceed, says judge". The Verge. Retrieved August 29, 2022.
16. ^ a b Hagey, Keach (May 19, 2021). "Peter Thiel, J.D. Vance Invest in Rumble Video Platform Popular on Political Right". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved May 21, 2021.
17. ^ Culliford, Elizabeth (June 26, 2021). "Trump Joins Video Platform Rumble Ahead of Ohio Rally". U.S. News & World Report. Reuters. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
18. ^ "Rumble acquires Locals to help build a bigger creator economy". Yahoo News. Retrieved October 26, 2021.
19. ^ Schnell, Mychael (December 14, 2021). "Trump media company inks deal with video platform Rumble". The Hill. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
20. ^ Kelly, Makena (August 30, 2022). "Truth Social is strapped for cash and struggling to find new users". The Verge. Retrieved September 5, 2022.
21. ^ Coster, Helen (August 23, 2022). "Truth Social to join Rumble's advertising platform". Reuters. Retrieved September 5, 2022.
22. ^ Chapman, Lizette (September 19, 2022). "Peter Thiel-Backed Video Platform Rumble Starts Trading After SPAC Deal". Bloomberg. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
23. ^ Morrison, Sara (March 16, 2022). "The free speech search engine that never was". Vox. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
24. ^ a b c d Parker, Bryan C. (January 15, 2021). "The next Parler: I tried four apps attracting right-wing users". SFGate. Retrieved January 16, 2021.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
25. ^ "Rumble does not permit copyright infringing activities and infringement of intellectual property rights on the Service, and Rumble will remove all Content if properly notified that such Content infringes on another's intellectual property rights. Rumble reserves the right to remove Content without prior notice". Rumble (website).`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
26. ^ Zakrzewski, Cat (November 16, 2020). "The Technology 202: YouTube alternative Rumble highlights conservatives' move to more hands-off social networks". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 9, 2021.`{{cite news}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
27. ^ Watts, Marina (October 26, 2020). "What Is Rumble? The YouTube Alternative 'Where Conservative Views Won't Be Discriminated Against'". Newsweek. Retrieved January 9, 2021.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
28. ^ Isaac, Mike; Browning, Kellen (November 18, 2020). "Fact-Checked on Facebook and Twitter, Conservatives Switch Their Apps". The New York Times. Retrieved January 9, 2021.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
29. ^ Mak, Aaron (December 15, 2020). "Meet Rumble, the YouTube Alternative Where Trump Could Still Win". Slate. Retrieved January 9, 2021.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
30. ^ Palmer, Ewan (June 28, 2021). "Donald Trump's Rumble account prompts attacks from Gab and Parler founders". Newsweek. Retrieved September 5, 2022.
31. ^ Mak, Aaron (June 29, 2021). "Gab Is Furious That Donald Trump Signed Up for Another Right-Wing Social Network". Slate Magazine. Retrieved September 5, 2022.
32. ^ Brown, Abram. "Is Rumble, A Right-Wing Social Media Company, Already The Next Meme Stock?". Forbes. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
33. ^ Isaac, Mike; Browning, Kellen (November 11, 2020). "Fact-Checked on Facebook and Twitter, Conservatives Switch Their Apps". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
34. ^ Harwell, Drew (August 16, 2021). "Rumble, a YouTube rival popular with conservatives, will pay creators who 'challenge the status quo'". The Seattle Times. Retrieved September 4, 2022. "Ciaran O'Connor, an analyst with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a counter-extremism think tank in London that has worked with Google on a European fund targeting online hate speech, said that during the pandemic, Rumble has 'become one of the main platforms for conspiracy communities and far-right communities in the U.S. and around the world.'"
35. ^ Fuchs, Hailey (March 24, 2022). "Russia state media turn to Rumble to get out their word". POLITICO. Retrieved September 4, 2022. "Forced off mainstream platforms, a number of radio shows associated with Russian state-run media have found a welcome home on Rumble, the video-sharing platform favored by conservatives and the far right."
36. ^ a b Newman, Kevin (February 19, 2022). "Investigating Canadian YouTube rival Rumble and its growing popularity among the world's far right". CTVNews.
37. ^ Dias, Elizabeth (July 8, 2022). "The Far-Right Christian Quest for Power: 'We Are Seeing Them Emboldened'". The New York Times. Retrieved September 4, 2022. "In a livestream on Rumble, a video site popular with the far right, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene..."
38. ^ Wilson, Jason (January 13, 2021). "Rightwingers flock to 'alt tech' networks as mainstream sites ban Trump". the Guardian. Retrieved August 29, 2022.
39. ^ Merril, Jeremy B.; Harwell, Drew (January 20, 2022). "Pro-Trump influencers flocked to alternative social networks. Their follower counts stalled soon after". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 29, 2022.
40. ^ Gilbert, David (December 15, 2021). "Trump's Social Media Company Just Partnered With a QAnon Video Site". www.vice.com. Retrieved August 29, 2022.
41. ^ Dalton, Ben (May 17, 2022). "The Evolution of the Tech and Fundraising Platforms for Extremists Kicked Off the Regular Internet". Slate Magazine. Retrieved August 29, 2022.
42. ^ Mak, Aaron (March 18, 2021). "Where Anti-Vaccine Propaganda Went When YouTube Banned It". Slate. Retrieved March 29, 2021.`{{cite news}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
43. ^ "Rumble terms and conditions". Rumble. Archived from the original on March 27, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
44. ^ "Rumble Sends Viewers Tumbling Toward Misinformation". Wired. May 11, 2021. Retrieved May 11, 2021.`{{cite magazine}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
45. ^ "Politics trumps business in Truth Social's war on Big Tech". Reuters. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
46. ^ Dwoskin, Elizabeth; Merrill, Jeremy B.; Vynck, Gerrit De (March 16, 2022). "Social platforms' bans muffle Russian state media propaganda". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
47. ^ a b c Marshall, Andrew R. C.; Tanfani, Joseph (August 22, 2022). "SkewTube: New video-sharing sites thrives on misinformation and hate". Reuters. Retrieved September 7, 2022.
48. ^ Harwell, Drew (August 12, 2021). "Rumble, a YouTube rival popular with conservatives, will pay creators who 'challenge the status quo'". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 12, 2021.`{{cite news}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
49. ^ Wilson, Cam (August 29, 2022). "How Rumble became the world's most popular video app". Crikey. Retrieved September 5, 2022.
50. ^ Elms, Victoria (September 4, 2022). "Andrew Tate moves to anti-'cancel culture' streaming platform Rumble as social media ban causes surge in activity". Sky News. Retrieved September 5, 2022.

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