History

Founded in 2013 by Chris Pavlovski, Rumble is a video-sharing platform that allows users to upload and share videos. Before 2020, Rumble was not known as a place that published politically biased videos. However, during the Covid-19 pandemic and the Presidential election, many right-wing pundits joined the service leading to incredible growth by right-biased and pro-Trump supporters. According to Chris Pavlovski, Rumble is a “clean YouTube competitor, the place they can feel safe.” Finally, in 2020, Conservative Pundit Dan Bongino bought an equity stake in the company.

Funded by / Ownership

Rumble lacks transparency as they do not disclose ownership; however, they are owned by Rumble, Inc, based in Toronto, Canada. They also don’t indicate that Dan Bongino holds an equity stake in the company. Revenue is derived through advertising, subscriptions, and the sale of video management software and analysis.

Analysis / Bias

In review, Rumble is a video upload and streaming service that feature a wide range of videos. However, throughout 2020, the video service began featuring more and more right-biased content. Some of their featured video channels include author Dinesh D’Souza, Charlie Kirk, OANN, Sean Hannity, Newsmax, and of course, Dan Bongino. While many of the videos featured are non-political such as cute animal videos, most news videos are far-right biased and some from conspiracy sources such as X22 Reports and Steve Bannon’s War Room.

During 2020, they have promoted false and misleading information regarding Covid-19, such as anti-mask propaganda: Masks don’t work, and here’s why. According to science and experts in the field, a mask is essential to slow the spread of Covid-19. Further, during the 2020 Presidential election, they frequently published false videos claiming election fraud such as this HAMMER software fraud in real-time. Finally, they also promote conspiracy theories from QAnon such as this Plandemic COVID SCAM – Fall Of Cabal Deep State And Illuminati Globalist Agenda 21 ID2020. In general, the videos published on Rumble are mostly right-biased, and many are not factual or promote conspiracy theories.

Failed Fact Checks

Overall, we rate Rumble Right Biased and Questionable based on the promotion of right-wing propaganda and conspiracy theories and false information, use of poor sources, and a lack of transparency. (D. Van Zandt 1/1/2021) Updated (10/24/2021)source