Rumble: What Is It And Why Journalists Should Keep Their Eyes On It?
Have you heard of Rumble? The video-sharing platform, founded by Chris Pavlovski in 2013 as an alternative to YouTube for independent content creators, has attracted the eyes and ears of right-wing Americans in the past few years. After the 2020 election, several conservative content creators jumped ship to Rumble after their videos claiming the election was stolen were demonetized on YouTube, at the behest of Google. Now, Rumble has occupied a strange, yet interesting role in the ongoing election lies, violence, and discord sown by the right.
The Pew Research Center notes that while only 20 percent of Americans get news or regularly consume content on Rumble, a staggering 76 percent of those Americans identify as Republicans or lean toward the Republican Party. Likewise, prominent conservative or Republican investors have materialized in recent years. As of 2022, several prominent Republican politicians post exclusively on Rumble, including encumbered former House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who has, of this writing, lost eleven votes to become the next Speaker of the House of Representatives due to a rebellion from the GOP’s far-right faction.
Consumers on Rumble are also very happy with the content they are consuming: According to Pew, “88% [of consumers] say they expect the news and information there to be mostly accurate, while 10% expect it to be mostly inaccurate. A large share of Rumble news consumers (69%) say the news they got there helped them better understand current events, while 12% say it made them more confused about current events.”
Conservative conspiracy theories are allowed to grow, unfettered, on Rumble. While not exclusively taking sides, founder Chris Pavlovski—who is also Rumble’s chief executive—supported monetizing any and all popular material for creators.
“Shadowy activists may not like what [our creators] have to say, but Rumble will always encourage open debate without taking sides… We won’t tolerate politicized attempts to cancel creators,” he said.
Nearly one-quarter of Rumble’s most prominent creators have been banned, delisted, or demonetized on other social media sites.
“There is no ideology here. If anything, we’re just neutral,” Pavlovski said in an interview. But Denver Riggleman– a former congressman (R-Va.) and intelligence analyst who is working with Congress’ January 6th commission, noticed that Rumble has aided in the blooming of an “alternate universe” due to its high degree of politicized disinformation surrounding COVID-19 vaccines, the 2020 election, LGBTQ+ people, guns, and Second Amendment rights.
Despite Pavlovski’s denials, the platform has joined the ranks of “alt-tech,” tech platforms, such as the former Parler, and Truth Social, that cater to the misinformation and conspiracy theories touted on the far-right. It is not uncommon to come upon threatening comments directed at left-wing politicians, despite the site’s explicit rules.
Ramble is a nexus of right-wing activity. Why should journalists pay attention? Because echo chambers can often predict the ebb and flow of events to come. Watched closely, a right-wing site like Rumble could clue journalists in on potential upcoming acts of violence against vulnerable communities, or set them ahead of the curve on combating the spillover of misinformation and disinformation into more reliable wells of knowledge.
