Company:Rumble
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Type of site | Video hosting service |
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Traded as | Nasdaq: Template:NasdaqSymbol |
Founded | October 30, 2013 |
Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario, Canada Longboat Key, Florida, U.S.[1] |
Area served | Worldwide |
Founder(s) |
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Industry | |
Products | Rumble Viral Locals |
Services | Video hosting service |
Parent | Rumble Inc. |
Website | rumble |
Launched | October 30, 2013 |
Current status | Active |
Rumble is an online video platform, web hosting and cloud services business[2][3] headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, with its U.S. headquarters in Longboat Key, Florida.[4][5] It was founded in 2013 by Chris Pavlovski, a Canadian technology entrepreneur.[6] Rumble's cloud services business hosts Truth Social, and the video platform is popular among American right and far-right users.[7] Rumble has been described as "alt-tech".[5][8][9]
History
Rumble was founded in October 2013 by Chris Pavlovski as an alternative to YouTube for independent vloggers and smaller content creators.[10] Pavlovski founded the platform after seeing that Google was prioritizing influencers on YouTube and not independent content creators.[11] In its early years, Rumble saw only limited popularity. The platform received a large influx of viewership from 2020 on, the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Monthly visitors rose from 1.6 million in 2020, to 31.9 million by 2021.[12] In the first nine months of 2021, Rumble generated more than $6.5 million in revenue, mostly from advertisements, but was not profitable.[13]
The rise of Rumble viewership in 2020 was attributed to then Republican politician Devin Nunes, who accused YouTube of overly censoring his channel. Nunes began posting content on Rumble, with other prominent conservatives, such as Dinesh D'Souza, Dan Bongino, Sean Hannity, and Representative Jim Jordan, following soon after.[6][14][15] In June 2021, former US President Donald Trump joined Rumble in preparation for recording his Ohio campaign rally.[16]
On January 11, 2021, Rumble filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google over its search algorithms, seeking damages exceeding $2 billion.[17][18] Rumble alleged that Google manipulated its algorithm so as to favor Google's own YouTube over Rumble in Google search results. Rumble alleged that this direct manipulation reduced its viewership and resulted in lower advertising revenues for their company.[19] In August 2022, a California judge said that Rumble's case against Google can proceed. [20]
Rumble received investment from venture capitalists Peter Thiel, Vivek Ramaswamy and J. D. Vance in May 2021, with that round of funding valuing Rumble at around $500 million.[21] In October 2021, Rumble acquired Locals.[22] 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 that also stated that Rumble would operate part of Truth Social as well as TMTG.[23] Also in December 2021, Rumble challenged a New York law prohibiting hate speech on social media.[24]
In August 2022, Rumble announced plans to provide an online advertising platform known as Rumble Ads, with Truth Social as its first publisher.[25][26] Rumble became a publicly traded company in September 2022, trading under ticker RUM on the NASDAQ, after merging with a special-purpose acquisition company.[27] In May 2023, Rumble acquired the podcasting platform CallIn.[28]
In 2023, Rumble was granted exclusive rights to the online stream of the Republican presidential primary debates.[29]
In 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission confirmed that Rumble was under an active investigation, the exact nature of which is unknown.[30]
Design and restrictions
Along with four other tabs in its main interface, Rumble features "recommended channels" to follow and an "Earnings" tab in its interface.[31] Rumble also allows its users to generate revenue from their videos.[31] 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.[31]
According to the platform's terms and conditions, Rumble forbids pornography, harassment, racism, antisemitism, and copyright infringement.[32] The platform also prohibits illegal content.[6][33][34][35][36] Rumble's policies have drawn criticism from alt-tech platforms for not allowing anti-semitism and racism.[37][38]
Rumble has built its own cloud service infrastructure and video streaming capacity.[13]
Users and content
Rumble's video platform is popular among conservatives[21][39][40] and far-right users[7][41][42] and has been described as part of "alt-tech" by various observers.[43][44][45][46]
Using data from February 2021, researchers noted that several content creators have gained a receptive audience on Rumble after their content was pulled from YouTube or Facebook. They include Del Bigtree, Sherri Tenpenny, and Simone Gold.[47][48][49] 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."[38] It also hosted Truth Social as of June 2022.[50] In August 2021, Rumble reached agreements with former Democratic Representative Tulsi Gabbard and The Intercept founder Glenn Greenwald to start posting their videos to the site.[51]
As of August 15, 2022, Rumble reported 78 million monthly active users (MAU).[52] 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.[53][54]
According to an August 2022 Reuters article, Rumble is 'better-funded' and 'more mainstream' than its competitors BitChute and Odysee. Reuters states that all three platforms 'include misinformation and conspiracy theories', with Rumble 'moderating more content' than the other two.[55] 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.[55][56]
According to a May 2022 Pew Research Center study, 20% of American adults have heard of Rumble, while 2% regularly got their news from Rumble. Of regular users, 76% identified as Republicans or were Republican-leaning, while 22% identified as Democrats or were Democratic-leaning. Around 90% of Rumble users believed news hosted on on the site was mostly accurate. Most of Rumble's 200 most prominent accounts at that time were run by individuals, 22% of whom had been banned from other social media platforms. 55% of these prominent accounts also had accounts on other websites such as YouTube. A June 2022 review of posts by Pew Research from Rumble's 200 most prominent accounts found that 49% had posted about guns or gun rights, 48% had posted about abortion, 44% had posted about LGBTQ topics (specifically the LGBT grooming conspiracy theory), 42% had posted about the January 6 Capitol attack, and 26% had posted about extreme vaccine skepticism.[57][58]
Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Rumble did not follow other social media platforms in banning Russian state media from their site. In November 2022, Rumble was blocked in France, after their refusal to comply with the country's demand for the removal of Russian state media accounts.[42][59]
In early 2023, Rumble began hosting live broadcasts for sports leagues owned by Thrill One Sports & Entertainment such as Nitrocross, Street League Skateboarding, and Power Slap.[60]
See also
References
- ↑ "Rumble Opens New U.S. Headquarters in Longboat Key, Florida". March 2, 2023. https://corp.rumble.com/blog/rumble-opens-new-u-s-headquarters-in-longboat-key-florida/.
- ↑ Primack, Dan (2022-04-26). "Rumble may top Trump's Truth Social" (in en). https://www.axios.com/2022/04/26/rumble-trump-truth-social-spac.
- ↑ Coster, Helen (2021-12-14). "Trump's social media venture partners with Canada's Rumble Inc" (in en). Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/technology/trumps-social-media-venture-partners-with-canadas-rumble-2021-12-14/.
- ↑ "Sarasota's County welcomes Rumble". November 12, 2021. https://www.edcsarasotacounty.com/sarasota-county-welcomes-rumble.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "The web firm that wants to stop you getting 'cancelled'" (in en-GB). BBC News. 2023-03-26. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-65050160.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Silverman, Craig (November 2, 2020). "Can Dan Bongino Make Rumble The Right's New Platform?". https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/dan-bongino-rumble.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Dias, Elizabeth (8 July 2022). "The Far-Right Christian Quest for Power: 'We Are Seeing Them Emboldened'". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/08/us/christian-nationalism-politicians.html. "In a livestream on Rumble, a video site popular with the far right, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene..."
- ↑ "Rumble: What is the YouTube alternative Russell Brand is using to post videos?". 21 September 2023. https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/rumble-youtube-russell-brand-videos-b2415567.html.
- ↑ "What If Rumble Is the Future of the Social Web?". 21 October 2022. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/10/what-if-rumble-future-social-web/671926/.
- ↑ Lorinc, Jacob (11 June 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. https://www.thestar.com/business/2021/06/11/this-toronto-based-website-surged-to-a-half-billion-dollar-valuation-almost-overnight-thanks-in-part-to-interest-from-conservative-american-investors.html.
- ↑ Castaldo, Joe (9 January 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. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-rumble-toronto-video-platform-youtube-alternative-valuation/.
- ↑ "Thiel-Backed Video Platform Rumble Offers Joe Rogan $100 Million to Switch From Spotify" (in en). Time. 2022-02-07. https://time.com/6145835/joe-rogan-rumble-podcast-offer/. Retrieved 2023-11-03.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Peters, Jeremy W. (2022-03-28). "Rumble, the Right's Go-To Video Site, Has Much Bigger Ambitions" (in en-US). The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/28/business/media/rumble-social-media-conservatives-videos.html.
- ↑ "Meet Rumble, the YouTube rival that's popular with conservatives" (in en). https://fortune.com/2020/11/30/rumble-video-service-youtube-rival-popular-among-conservatives/.
- ↑ Mak, Aaron (2021-06-29). "Gab Is Furious That Donald Trump Signed Up for Another Right-Wing Social Network" (in en). https://slate.com/technology/2021/06/donald-trump-rally-rumble-gab-parler.html.
- ↑ Culliford, Elizabeth (June 26, 2021). "Trump Joins Video Platform Rumble Ahead of Ohio Rally". Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-joins-video-platform-rumble-ahead-ohio-rally-2021-06-26/.
- ↑ O'Kane, Josh (2021-01-13). "Toronto video-hosting startup Rumble Inc. sues Google over search result" (in en-US). The Globe And Mail. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-toronto-video-hosting-startup-rumble-inc-sues-google-over-search/.
- ↑ Template:Cite case
- ↑ Schechner, Sam (2021-01-12). "YouTube rival Rumble sues Google over search rankings" (in en-US). https://www.marketwatch.com/story/youtube-rival-rumble-sues-google-over-search-rankings-11610465669.
- ↑ Robertson, Adi (2 August 2022). "Rumble's antitrust lawsuit against Google can proceed, says judge" (in en). https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/2/23288732/rumble-antitrust-lawsuit-google-search-results-app-court-decision.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Hagey, Keach (2021-05-19). "Peter Thiel, J.D. Vance Invest in Rumble Video Platform Popular on Political Right" (in en-US). The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. https://www.wsj.com/articles/peter-thiel-j-d-vance-invest-in-rumble-video-platform-popular-on-political-right-11621447661.
- ↑ "Rumble acquires Locals to help build a bigger creator economy". https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rumble-acquires-locals-help-build-140000966.html.
- ↑ Schnell, Mychael (December 14, 2021). "Trump media company inks deal with video platform Rumble" (in en). The Hill. https://thehill.com/homenews/media/585838-trump-media-company-inks-deal-with-video-platform-rumble.
- ↑ Dolmetsch, Chris (2022-12-01). "New York Online Hate Speech Law Challenged by Thiel-Backed Rumble" (in en). Bloomberg.com. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-01/new-york-online-hate-speech-law-challenged-by-law-blog-rumble.
- ↑ Kelly, Makena (August 30, 2022). "Truth Social is strapped for cash and struggling to find new users" (in en). The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/30/23329245/truth-social-donald-trump-google-play-store-dwac-spac.
- ↑ Coster, Helen (August 23, 2022). "Truth Social to join Rumble's advertising platform" (in en). Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/technology/truth-social-join-rumbles-advertising-platform-2022-08-23/.
- ↑ Chapman, Lizette (19 September 2022). "Peter Thiel-Backed Video Platform Rumble Starts Trading After SPAC Deal". Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-19/peter-thiel-backed-rumble-heads-to-the-public-markets-via-spac-deal.
- ↑ "Rumble (RUM) Acquires Podcasting and Live Streaming Platform CallIn". StreetInsider.com (Press release). Retrieved 2023-05-15.
- ↑ "RNC's livestreaming partner for the GOP debate is a haven for disinformation and extremism" (in en). 2023-09-25. https://apnews.com/article/republican-debate-livestream-rumble-disinformation-extremism-a6e627ac88463f9f83ada062ea83c6db.
- ↑ Turton, William (January 8, 2024). "Rumble Is Part of an 'Active and Ongoing' SEC Investigation". Wired. https://www.wired.com/story/rumble-sec-investigation/. Retrieved January 9, 2024.
- ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 Parker, Bryan C. (2021-01-15). "The next Parler: I tried four apps attracting right-wing users" (in en-US). https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/parler-replacement-rumble-mewe-telegram-wimkin-15871616.php.
- ↑ "Website Terms and Conditions of Use and Agency Agreement". https://rumble.com/s/terms. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
- ↑ Zakrzewski, Cat (November 16, 2020). "The Technology 202: YouTube alternative Rumble highlights conservatives' move to more hands-off social networks". The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/16/technology-202-youtube-alternative-rumble-highlights-conservatives-move-more-hands-off-social-networks/.
- ↑ Watts, Marina (October 26, 2020). "What Is Rumble? The YouTube Alternative 'Where Conservative Views Won't Be Discriminated Against'". https://www.newsweek.com/what-rumble-youtube-alternative-where-conservative-views-wont-discriminated-against-1542141.
- ↑ Isaac, Mike; Browning, Kellen (November 18, 2020). "Fact-Checked on Facebook and Twitter, Conservatives Switch Their Apps". https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/11/technology/parler-rumble-newsmax.html.
- ↑ Mak, Aaron (December 15, 2020). "Meet Rumble, the YouTube Alternative Where Trump Could Still Win". https://slate.com/technology/2020/12/rumble-youtube-trump-conspiracy-theories.html.
- ↑ Palmer, Ewan (2021-06-28). "Donald Trump's Rumble account prompts attacks from Gab and Parler founders" (in en). https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-rumble-gab-parler-1604636.
- ↑ 38.0 38.1 "Truth Social's Harsh Truth" (in en). https://slate.com/technology/2023/11/truth-social-donald-trump-spac-trouble-twitter-facebook.html.
- ↑ Brown, Abram. "Is Rumble, A Right-Wing Social Media Company, Already The Next Meme Stock?" (in en). https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2021/12/02/rumble-spac-ipo-social-media-conservative/.
- ↑ Isaac, Mike; Browning, Kellen (2020-11-11). "Fact-Checked on Facebook and Twitter, Conservatives Switch Their Apps" (in en-US). The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/11/technology/parler-rumble-newsmax.html.
- ↑ Harwell, Drew (16 August 2021). "Rumble, a YouTube rival popular with conservatives, will pay creators who 'challenge the status quo'". The Seattle Times. https://www.seattletimes.com/business/rumble-a-youtube-rival-popular-with-conservatives-will-pay-creators-who-challenge-the-status-quo/. "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.'"
- ↑ 42.0 42.1 Fuchs, Hailey (24 March 2022). "Russia state media turn to Rumble to get out their word" (in en). POLITICO. https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/24/russia-state-media-rumble-00020184. "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."
- ↑ Wilson, Jason (January 13, 2021). "Rightwingers flock to 'alt tech' networks as mainstream sites ban Trump" (in en). the Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/13/social-media-trump-ban-alt-tech-far-right.
- ↑ 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. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/01/20/trump-audience-stalling/.
- ↑ Gilbert, David (December 15, 2021). "Trump's Social Media Company Just Partnered With a QAnon Video Site" (in en). www.vice.com. https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkpaeb/truth-social-partnering-with-rumble.
- ↑ Dalton, Ben (May 17, 2022). "The Evolution of the Tech and Fundraising Platforms for Extremists Kicked Off the Regular Internet" (in en). Slate Magazine. https://slate.com/technology/2022/05/alt-tech-internet-extremists-financial-ecosystem.html.
- ↑ Mak, Aaron (18 March 2021). "Where Anti-Vaccine Propaganda Went When YouTube Banned It". Slate. https://slate.com/technology/2021/03/youtube-rumble-vaccine-misinformation.html.
- ↑ "Rumble terms and conditions". https://rumble.com/s/terms.
- ↑ "Rumble Sends Viewers Tumbling Toward Misinformation". Wired. 11 May 2021. https://www.wired.com/story/rumble-sends-viewers-tumbling-toward-misinformation/. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
- ↑ Coster, Helen; Love, Julia (June 27, 2022). "Politics trumps business in Truth Social's war on Big Tech" (in en). Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-trump-truth-social/.
- ↑ Harwell, Drew (2021-08-12). "Rumble, a YouTube rival popular with conservatives, will pay creators who 'challenge the status quo'" (in en). The Washington Post. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/rumble-a-youtube-rival-popular-with-conservatives-will-pay-creators-who-challenge-the-status-quo/ar-AANeDiu.
- ↑ "Rumble Sets New Monthly Active User Record in August Citing Growth Among 'Gen Z' Users" (Press release). 2022-09-07.
- ↑ Wilson, Cam (29 August 2022). "How Rumble became the world's most popular video app". Crikey. https://www.crikey.com.au/2022/08/29/andrew-tate-rumble-video-app/.
- ↑ Elms, Victoria (4 September 2022). "Andrew Tate moves to anti-'cancel culture' streaming platform Rumble as social media ban causes surge in activity" (in en). Sky News. https://news.sky.com/story/andrew-tates-move-to-anti-cancel-culture-streaming-platform-rumble-after-social-media-ban-causes-surge-in-activity-12687658.
- ↑ 55.0 55.1 Marshall, Andrew R. C.; Tanfani, Joseph (August 22, 2022). "SkewTube: New video-sharing sites thrives on misinformation and hate" (in en). Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-media-misinformation/.
- ↑ Newman, Kevin (19 February 2022). "Investigating Canadian YouTube rival Rumble and its growing popularity among the world's far right" (in en). CTVNews. https://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/investigating-canadian-youtube-rival-rumble-and-its-growing-popularity-among-the-world-s-far-right-1.5787533.
- ↑ Ghosh, Shreenita; Stocking, Galen (December 21, 2022). "Key facts about Rumble" (in en-US). https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/12/21/key-facts-about-rumble/.
- ↑ "4. Content from prominent alternative social media accounts highlights extreme vaccine skepticism, anxiety over LGBTQ issues". 6 October 2022. https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2022/10/06/content-from-prominent-alternative-social-media-accounts-highlights-extreme-vaccine-skepticism-anxiety-over-lgbtq-issues/.
- ↑ "Rumble, une plate-forme de vidéos non modérée, est bloquée en France" (in fr). Le Monde. 2 November 2022. https://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2022/11/02/rumble-une-plate-forme-de-videos-non-moderee-est-bloquee-en-france_6148205_4408996.html.
- ↑ Mondy, Ben (June 27, 2023). "Street League Skateboarding Is Now Streamed on Platform Known for Right-Wing Audience". https://www.theinertia.com/features/street-league-skateboarding-streaming-rumble-right-wing/.
External links