The most popular video platform for the American right is headquartered in Toronto
It may be easy to feel as if the growing political divide witnessed in the U.S. in recent years is not much of a Canadian problem, but some may be surprised to find that one of the American right's most popular websites is actually from right here at home.
Rumble, a video platform started in Toronto in 2013, is now considered a very worthy rival of YouTube, and is worth an estimated $2 billion U.S.
Founder Chris Pavlovski started the brand because he thought the world's biggest video platform didn't grant enough money-making potential to its creators.
But the site really began picking up steam when competitors like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter started vetting and removing content amid the "fake news" era, making Rumble one of few places where people could post things unfactchecked and uncensored, and thus a boon for Conservative such as Donald Trump.
How much of far right Twitter got kicked off after Jan 6 and is now on explicitly far-right social media sites like Gab and Rumble?
— Arthur Samuels (@arthur_samuels) February 27, 2022
The company is recently best known for offering Joe Rogan a $100 million deal for all of his content, telling the podcaster in a letter that "we stand with you, your guests, and your legion of fans in desire for real conversation" and that he would face "no censorship."
"This is our chance to save the world," Pavlovksi, an avid proponent of free speech, continued. He's also recently referred to his site as "cancel-culture proof," clearly aware of what audience he is appealing to.
Hey @joerogan, we are ready to fight alongside you. See the note from our CEO @chrispavlovski... pic.twitter.com/G7ahfNNjtP
— Rumble (@rumblevideo) February 7, 2022
Though the site is known for being popular among American right-leaning users in particular, it has gained more traction lately with Canadians during the infamous trucker convoy protests.
It is also notoriously home to a ton of conspiracy theories, COVID disinformation and other such content that is both created and consumed by people on both sides of the border and, to a lesser extent, worldwide, with a number of prominent far-right figureheads among its avid users.
All of a sudden I can see the propaganda. Rumble is purely propaganda for the extreme right. Suspicious observers is also far right. Bongino, shillpiro, Limbaugh, trump, trump jr., Dinesh desouza, q. All far right propaganda.
— @ (@Shad0w_Intel) February 27, 2022
Rumble's headquarters for now remains a small office at Adelaide and University, though it signed a lease near Sarasota, Florida in fall 2021.
Join the conversation Load comments