Big tech, the government, and the legacy media are colluding to silence all voices of opposition.
Big tech is actively working with various world governments to suppress the voices of those who oppose their liberal/woke agenda.
But some companies are standing up to the censorship, and Rumble just had an epic response to attempted strong-arming by the UK parliament.
Rumble is an online video platform that was developed as an alternative to YouTube.
As YouTube censored and demonetized content creators for political speech that the company found objectionable, Rumble soared in popularity as an alternative.
The increase in fortunes for the company became readily apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic.
While YouTube removed videos at odds with the government line on the virus, Rumble remained a free space for content creators who questioned certain claims made and later walked back by official government agencies.
Monthly visitors to the site rose from 1.6 million in 2020 to 31.9 million by 2021.
The company’s mission statement from CEO Chris Pavlovski reads, “We are for people with something to say and something to share, who believe in authentic expression, and want to control the value of their own creations. We create technologies that are immune to cancel culture. Because everyone benefits when we have access to more ideas, diverse opinions, and dialogue. Join us. We are on a mission to protect a free and open internet.”
Naturally, this doesn’t sit well with representatives of various world governments who don’t like it when ordinary people are exposed to points of view at odds with the favored positions of those in power.
Comedian Russell Brand is the latest person who has been targeted by the MeToo movement.
Brand has been accused of sexual assault by four women, and the alleged incidents took place over a decade ago.
While the actor denies the allegations and hasn’t been convicted of any crime, YouTube has suspended monetization of his accounts.
The accusations from the women and the actions from the media are all occurring as Brand’s rhetoric has taken on a decidedly anti-establishment line on all manner of topics relating to censorship, misdeeds of the pharmaceutical industry, and questioning of the actions and funding of Western governments involving the war in Ukraine.
Caroline Dinenage chairs the Culture, Media, and Sport Committee in the House of Commons of the UK parliament.
On behalf of her committee, she asked Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski whether Rumble was going to follow YouTube and suspend monetization of Brand’s account, in a letter that seemed to try to jawbone Pavolvski into doing her bidding.
In her letter, she wrote, “While we recognize that Rumble is not the creator of the content published by Mr. Brand, we are concerned that he may be able to profit from his content on the platform.”
Why any government entity has any business at all preventing a private citizen from earning a living when he hasn’t been convicted of any crime is an open (and chilling) question.
A textbook case of putting government scolds in their place
But to their credit, Rumble was having none of it and fired off a response for the ages.
Rumble's response to the UK Parliament's letter to our CEO @chrispavlovski pic.twitter.com/iSCpHIHoU4
— Rumble – 🏴☠️ $RUM (@rumblevideo) September 20, 2023
Noting their opposition to crime, the company nonetheless wrote, “We regard it as deeply inappropriate and dangerous that the UK parliament would attempt to control who is allowed to speak on our platform or to earn a living from doing so. Singling out any individual and demanding his ban is even more disturbing given the absence of any connection between the allegations and his content on Rumble. We don’t agree with the behavior of many Rumble creators, but we refuse to penalize them for actions that have nothing to do with our platform. Although it may be politically and socially easier for Rumble to join a cancel culture mob, doing so would be a violation of our company’s values and mission. We emphatically reject the UK parliament’s demands.”
Brandon Morse of RedState.com called the response “the second greatest FU document delivered to the British from America,” and it’s hard to disagree with that assessment.
It’s heartening to see that one company is standing firm on the right to free expression, especially considering how so many tech companies have gone the other way in recent years.
Cheers to Rumble for showing how to tell scolds in the UK and elsewhere to bugger off.
