The shares of the right-wing conservative video platform Rumble fell in value after the debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Investors are cautious: Rumble is still a small company with sales of 79 million US dollars in the last four quarters and an operating loss of 150 million US dollars in that period, making it deeply unprofitable.
Conservative users in particular should do their part to ensure that platforms can exist at all and not tap into strange sources of money. People are used to everything being free and everyone being able to post bonkers material.
The Tenet scandal in the USA is a warning shot to influencers like Tim Pool, who take a lot of money from strange companies that are apparently backed by the Russians.
The video platform Rumble has advertised Tenet Media several times in recent months and shown videos from the company’s channel in its “Editor Picks” section. In its source code, the platform describes its “Editor Picks” section as “the absolute best” of Rumble.
Rumble saw a sharp increase in user numbers after the major wave of censorship on YouTube, but was not profitable back in 2021. Rumble received investments from venture capitalists Peter Thiel, Vivek Ramaswamy, and JD Vance in May 2021. In this funding round, Rumble was valued at around $500 million.
On December 14, 2021, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) announced that it had entered into a “comprehensive technology and cloud services agreement” with Rumble. A statement also said that Rumble would operate part of Truth Social as well as TMTG. In September 2022, Rumble became a publicly traded company.
In 2023, Rumble received exclusive rights to stream the Republican presidential primary debates online.
Rumble prohibits harassment, racism, anti-Semitism, and copyright infringement. The platform also prohibits illegal content. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Rumble did not ban Russian state media from its site. In November 2022, Rumble was blocked in France after it refused to comply with the country’s demand to remove Russian state media accounts. In May 2024, Rumble was blocked in Russia for failing to comply with the Russian government’s request to remove content, which Chris Pavlovski viewed as censorship.
Recently, an email was sent to Rumble users:
Dunkin Donuts has decided not to advertise on Rumble because they say “the site’s right-wing culture is too polarizing.”
Because Rumble censors more radical material than Bitchute, for example, some users complain. At the same time, large corporations like Dunkin Donuts still do not approve of the Rumble platform.
Another email states:
There are no other large companies that fight for freedom like we do. We’re putting everything on the line and the CEO of Telegram was recently arrested for it. Advertisers are boycotting our companies to cut off our economic lifeline, but they underestimate our popular support. If you want to help us, join Rumble Premium. If Rumble Premium gets big enough, you’ll help us change the rules of the game and fight for freedom of speech.
A company like Rumble can’t finance itself through its users? How else is it supposed to work? Should it accept Russian money to survive? What kind of content do users think they’ll get then? Certainly not content that really serves American interests.
Should they beg some super-rich people? Hedge funds? What kind of content do users think they’ll get then?
Should they let advertising partners like Dunkin Donuts boss them around?
X or Twitter has similar problems. Some complain that the platform is not radical enough. Most advertising partners think it is too radical. In Europe there are problems with the laws. Hardly anyone seems to want to pay the few dollars a month to make X profitable.
Once again, it’s clear that the more sensible citizens show little initiative. The radicals, on the other hand, show initiative, but do everything wrong.
Telegram wasn’t profitable without strange crypto shenanigans and investors. Users would run away if more content moderation happens, if the service charged money and if thre was more advertising.
