Hook:
Rumble CEO, Chris Pavlovski, has recently spoken up in response to Russia’s sudden move to ban the video platform, exposing the gritty realities of global media censorship and the West’s habitual tendency towards disregarding its own liberal ideals.
Body:
You may recall that Rumble, one of our stalwart bastions of free speech, recently found itself in the murky waters of international politics. While engaging with social media ace, Mario Nawfal, in an X Spaces event on 7th May, Pavlovski was questioned about why Russia had outlawed his platform and demanded a choking censorship on it.
Interestingly, a few years back, Rumble found itself under fire – being condemned for promoting Russian news, to the extent that it had to exit France completely. As Pavlovski recalled, they were requested to pull the plug on broadcasting any news from Russia. They refused, of course, and opted to bid adieu to France altogether. Naturally, this move led to a media uproar both in the United States and Canada. Rumble was blasted for its decision to air Russian news and the CEO himself was branded by every name under the sun.
Isn’t it ironic though, that the same media that once bashed Rumble for being ‘pro-Russian’ hasn’t uttered a word since Russia blocked the site? Russia imposed this ban about a month ago, making the platform wholly inaccessible within the country.
Pavlovski shed some light on the events leading to the ban. Rumble, continuing to stand its ground, refused to comply with Russia’s string of orders to censor content. He mentioned being pressured to take down multiple accounts – one on marijuana, another with conspiracy theories, and one of a political nature in Arabic. Rumble saw no violation of its regulations in these cases and hence, the censorship orders were ignored, leading to Russia cutting them off completely.
As for dealing with the West, Pavlovski pointed out that their style of censorship is more insidious, carried out without direct orders but through media organizations. In a veiled threat, they spotlight a single, often controversial, piece of content from the multitude available on the platform. As per Pavlovski, these organizations are the true orchestrators of censorship on Big Tech platforms, leaving the platforms themselves quaking in their boots.
Conclusion:
What Rumble’s recent exchanges have spotlighted is not just the threat of Big Tech and the mainstream media’s ideological bias, but the disheartening reality of countries retreating from their democratic ideals. It’s high time we reminded our representatives to hold Big Tech under the stern gaze of accountability, prevent restrictions on free speech, and allow an even playing field for all ideological perspectives.
