Rumble Vid Bak

bak bad ode here?1023

see kirk, poso

---

an 12 24

One common explanation for the outcome 2024 presidential election is that the far-right's vast social media ecosystem was able to reach more Americans than traditional media, influencing a decisive number of voters in key battleground states. One New York Times reporter decided to put himself in those Americans' shoes for a week and document the results.

In a Friday article for the Times, journalist Stuart A. Thompson — who covers right-wing media — dove head-first into Rumble, which is the preferred video news platform for the extreme right. As Thompson noted, Rumble began as a YouTube alternative that was known for cat videos until the January 6, 2021 siege of the U.S. Capitol. Once YouTube banned multiple accounts for their defense of insurrectionists, those content creators migrated their channels and audiences to Rumble.

As part of his research process, Thompson wrote that he watched approximately 47 hours of Rumble content for his report. For one week, Thompson deactivated all of his news apps, filtered out emails from news outlets and newsletters and exclusively watched Rumble content creators like Dan Bongino, Roseanne Barr, Candace Owens, Russell Brand and Clayton Morris, among others.

These are just a few of the most popular Rumble commentators. Other top Rumble contributors include conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and misogynist influencer Andrew Tate. Stew Peters — a former bounty hunter who has roughly 556,000 followers — has praised Adolf Hitler and called for shooting nonprofit workers who help undocumented immigrants.

"Just a few hours into the experiment, it was clear that I was falling into an alternate reality fueled almost entirely by outrage," Thompson wrote, noting that he could feel his worldview and perspectives shift the more he was exposed to far-right narratives.

"When I described to my wife what I was hearing on Rumble, she said I was right to feel uneasy because the world I was immersing myself in sounded genuinely awful," he continued. "Hour by hour, Rumble’s hosts stoked fears about nearly everything: culture wars, transgender Americans and even a potential World War III."

Thompson reported that while he expected blowback from Rumble contributors after his article went live on the Times' site, he was surprised to get public backlash before publication. He recalled one interaction in which Jake Pentland — Roseanne Barr's son, who co-hosts her podcast — posted an email inquiry he sent to X, which resulted in him getting doxxed and brigaded with hate from Rumble viewers.

"Rumble’s chief executive reposted [Pentland's tweet], then Elon Musk reposted that to his more than 200 million followers," Thompson wrote. "My phone number was visible, and apparently seen more than 50 million times on the platform, so I was soon flooded with angry phone calls and texts calling my article (which hadn’t yet been published) a 'hit job' focused on World War III."

After the election, Pew Research found that roughly 37% of Americans under 30 — and approximately 20% of all American adults — get their news from "social media influencers" rather than from traditional news outlets. 63% of those influencers are men, and 77% of those influencers have no background or ties to any news organization. A majority of influencers lean conservative, and 85% of them have a presence on X. 50% of news influencers are active on Instagram, and 44% also have a YouTube presence.

"These Americans also say they get a variety of different types of information, from basic facts and opinions to funny posts and breaking news," Pew reported last month. "When it comes to opinions, most who see them say they are an even mix of opinions they agree and disagree with (61%), but far more say they mostly agree with what they see (30%) than mostly disagree (2%)."

Click here to read Thompson's report for the Times in its entirety (subscription required).

---

Donald Trump praises Rumble for letting him claim the election was “rigged” and criticizes Fox News for settling with Dominion | Media Matters for America

https://www.mediamatters.org/rumble/rumble-promotes-video-suggesting-jacksonville-shooting-was-false-flag-among-its-selected (https://www.mediamatters.org/rumble/rumble-promotes-video-suggesting-jacksonville-shooting-was-false-flag-among-its-selected)}:

bad code here/ 10 23

Rumble is profiting from creators who spread antisemitism

10/16/23

Rumble might disable UK access rather than moderate the misinformation and hate speech on the platform

09/26/23 6:34 PM EDT

The RNC is partnering with the Republican Jewish Coalition and Rumble — a virulently antisemitic platform — for the third GOP debate

10/16/23

mma 8 23

no graphs

In a new study, Media Matters analyzed Rumble’s “Battle Leaderboard Top 50” — a prominently displayed (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4003248) ranking of the 50 most-liked (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4004596) videos from the previous 24 hours — once per day from February 1, 2023, through July 31, 2023. The overwhelming majority (nearly 95%) belong to right-wing or conspiracy theorist channels.

Key findings include:

57% of all videos on the leaderboard were from right-wing media outlets, personalities, and politicians

37% of all videos on the leaderboard were from channels that amplify right-wing conspiracy theories, including the QAnon conspiracy theory

13% of all videos on the leaderboard were from “Rumble Exclusives” creators

Videos from QAnon channels appeared more frequently on the leaderboard than videos from Rumble Exclusives creators, with at least 1,655 videos (18%) and at least 1,198 videos (13%) from QAnon channels and exclusive creators, respectively

Additionally, multiple videos from QAnon channels appeared on the leaderboard every day during the time frame studied

While only 3% of videos on the leaderboard were from channels associated with the “manosphere (https://www.mediamatters.org/diversity-discrimination/beyond-andrew-tate-meet-misogynistic-manosphere-influencers-proliferating)” — a far-right (https://www.mediamatters.org/white-nationalism/misogynistic-manosphere-influencers-dive-headfirst-antisemitism) online community that pushes outdated, extremist gender politics repackaged for the internet age — videos from these channels have appeared more frequently in recent months, increasing from just 27 appearances in February to 94 in July

7 of the 10 videos with the most likes that appeared on the leaderboard were from QAnon channels

Republican National Committee has chosen Rumble to be its exclusive streaming partner for the first two presidential primary debates

On April 12, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel announced (https://www.mediamatters.org/rumble/rumble-home-harmful-right-wing-content-and-creators-will-be-exclusively-livestreaming-first) on Fox & Friends that Fox News would be hosting the first GOP primary debate of the 2024 presidential election, while the debate will also be exclusively livestreamed on Rumble because the RNC is “getting away from Big Tech.” On August 9, McDaniel tweeted (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4010340) that the second primary debate will also be in partnership with Rumble. The platform reportedly (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rumble-reports-strong-second-quarter-200800391.html) will feature the debate on its home page and “make the stream available for viewers around the world on the RNC’s Rumble channel.”

Rumble is an extreme (https://www.mediamatters.org/rumble/rncs-first-primary-will-livestream-exclusively-rumble-platform-overrun-qanon-content-violent) right-wing video-sharing platform that markets itself (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4004635) as a defender of “free speech” in supposed contrast to other social media sites (even though partisan claims of censorship by Big Tech companies are false (https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/new-data-shows-conservatives-are-still-not-being-censored-facebook-even-engagement)). The company has big ambitions (https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/report-rumble-wants-be-new-frontier-social-media-and-facebook-helping-it-get-there) to compete with a (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4007671) range (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4007673) of (https://time.com/6145835/joe-rogan-rumble-podcast-offer/) other (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4007672) tech (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4007674) companies (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4007675) and to be (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/28/business/media/rumble-social-media-conservatives-videos.html?partner=slack&smid=sl-share) “immune” to so-called “cancel culture.”

Rumble is also reportedly backed by various (https://www.marketwatch.com/story/david-sacks-to-join-rumbles-board-after-fellow-paypal-mafia-alum-peter-thiel-throws-support-behind-video-platform-baa698a7) high-profile (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/03/dan-bongino-and-the-big-business-of-returning-trump-to-power) right-wing (https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkpaeb/truth-social-partnering-with-rumble) figures (https://www.vice.com/en/article/4avxyp/the-hillbilly-elegy-guy-is-bankrolling-the-anti-vax-version-of-youtube), including biotech entrepreneur (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/vivek-ramaswamy-fox-news-shiny-new-object-his-comments-decrying-climate-religion-have-lot) Vivek Ramaswamy (https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation-politics/ramaswamy-investments-seem-at-odds-with-his-position-on-woke-culture/), who will be one of the candidates on the GOP presidential primary debate stage on August 23.

The site serves as a dumping ground (https://www.mediamatters.org/rumble/rumble-still-rife-racist-antisemitic-and-violent-rhetoric-even-after-it-removed-nick-fuentes) for right-wing fearmongering, falsehoods, and bigotry — despite its policies (https://rumble.com/s/terms) against “racism, anti-semitism and hatred” and content that “promotes, supports, or incites violence.” Media Matters has repeatedly demonstrated the plethora of right-wing misinformation and hate on the platform: For instance, in May, we found (https://www.mediamatters.org/rumble/qanon-supporters-find-home-rumble-dominating-platforms-leaderboard-most-liked-daily-videos) that videos from QAnon-supporting channels appeared on Rumble’s leaderboard every day between February 1 and April 30 — a total of 603 times.

Our latest study, which analyzed Rumble’s “Battle Leaderboard Top 50” once per day from February 1 to July 31, shows that this trend has continued, with right-wing and conspiracy theorist channels overrunning thself as a diverse platform with its cadre of “Rumble Exclusives” creators paid to produce content exclusively for the platform.}:

Videos from right-wing media outlets, personalities, and politicians earned hundreds of millions of views

Right-wing media outlets, personalities, and politicians accounted for 57% of all videos we identified on the leaderboard, earning over 330 million views and at least 9.8 million likes.

Channels belonging to right-wing media outlets and personalities that appeared most frequently on the leaderboard include “LFA TV (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4010341)” (Live from America TV) and “Bannons War Room (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4010342)”:

Videos from right-wing streaming network LFA TV appeared on the leaderboard at least 545 times, earning more than 10 million views and at least 929,000 likes. LFA TV has produced Rumble videos that are saturated with religious rhetoric and fearmonger about war, such as predicting (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4009267) violence (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4009270) in several instances and claiming (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4009266) that we are already in a “holy civil war” in at least one instance.

Videos from Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast appeared on the leaderboard at least 533 times, earning over 13.7 million views and more than 381,000 likes. In a video that streamed on Rumble during the 2022 midterm elections, Bannon called (https://www.mediamatters.org/steve-bannon/steve-bannon-and-clean-elections-usas-melody-jennings-justify-armed-vigilantism) armed, camouflaged extremists staking out ballot drop boxes in Arizona “concerned Americans that understand there was a lot of problems in 2020."

Videos from the channels of right-wing politicians, including Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4010388) and former President Donald Trump (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4010344), have appeared on the leaderboard dozens of times. Trump has used his Rumble channel (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4010406) to livestream his rallies, as well as to post campaign videos and clips, including one video (https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/official-video-posted-trumps-social-media-account-appears-use-qanon-song) in which he appeared to use a song named after the slogan for the QAnon conspiracy theory. His videos appeared on the leaderboard at least 31 times and earned over 5.6 million views and over 195,000 likes.

Multiple videos from QAnon-promoting channels were on the leaderboard every day of the study

Videos from channels that amplify right-wing conspiracy theories — such as QAnon and other anti-establishment, anti-vaccine, and COVID-19 conspiracy theories — accounted for 37% of all videos we identified on the leaderboard.

Notably, multiple videos from channels that frequently amplify the QAnon conspiracy theory appeared on the leaderboard every day during the time frame studied. These videos accounted for 18% of videos on the leaderboard overall, earning over 111 million views and over 5 million likes. Videos from channels that frequently amplify other right-wing conspiracy theories earned at least an additional 92 million views and 3.5 million likes.

Channels that amplify right-wing conspiracy theories include “X22 Report (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4010347),” “Badlands Media (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4010346),” and “Julie Green Ministries (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4010345)”:

Videos from QAnon-affiliated Badlands Media appeared on the leaderboard at least 312 times, earning more than 20.1 million views and over 790,000 likes. Badlands Media was founded by (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4001705) QAnon influencers Jon Herold (https://www.dailydot.com/debug/patel-patriot-devolution-jon-herold/) and Kate Buckley (https://www.dailydot.com/debug/red-pill-roadshow/), and it features multiple QAnon influencers as hosts and has largely dedicated its programming to covering QAnon (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4006439) and related conspiracy theories (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4006441). One of its shows, Why We Vote (https://www.mediamatters.org/voter-fraud-and-suppression/rumble-qanon-affiliated-show-dedicated-election-misinformation-hosts), is dedicated to amplifying election conspiracy theories and misinformation, claiming (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4006444) to feature “voting experts throughout the nation to explore why the foundation of our Republic needs to remain a focus of patriots, despite repeated attempts at fraud and election theft.”

Videos from the QAnon-affiliated X22 Report channel appeared on the leaderboard at least 242 times, earning over 46.6 million views and more than 2.2 million likes. X22 Report is a QAnon-promoting show with a history of amplifying extreme anti-vaccine (https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/anti-vax-influencers-are-using-qanon-shows-spread-misinformation-about-covid) misinformation (https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/2021-bond-between-qanon-and-anti-vaxxers-grew-even-stronger), overt support (https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/qanon-podcasts-supportive-capitol-insurrection-are-streaming-apple-and) for the January 6 insurrection, and baseless anti-LGBTQ (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/28/business/media/rumble-social-media-conservatives-videos.html)conspiracy theories. The show joined Rumble in 2020 after being banned (https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-nw-extremist-podcasts-20210115-us36x4klrrczjftp6gy4jysqqy-story.html) from YouTube during a QAnon crackdown and has been linked (https://www.vice.com/en/article/7kb38q/man-inspired-by-qanon-and-hopped-up-on-caffeine-purposefully-derailed-train) to at least one act of real world violence.

Videos from Julie Green Ministries, a channel which has amplified violent, religious conspiracy theories, appeared on the leaderboard at least 77 times, earning more than 11 million views and over 914,000 likes. Green has claimed (https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/doug-mastriano-campaign-prophet-julie-green-political-executions-are-coming) that God will execute political figures “for their planned pandemic, shortages, inflation, mandates and for stealing an election,” that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “loves to drink the little children’s blood,” that the government is conducting “human sacrifices” to stay in power, and that President Joe Biden is secretly dead and an “actor” is playing him.

Videos from conspiracy theorists outperformed content from Rumble’s exclusive creators

Rumble Exclusives (https://www.mediamatters.org/rumble/rumbles-exclusive-content-creators-include-dangerous-array-bigoted-pundits-and-conspiracy) channels accounted for at least 1,198 videos (13%) on the leaderboard, earning over 263.2 million views and over 5 million likes. This means that videos from creators producing content exclusively for Rumble appeared on the leaderboard less frequently than videos from QAnon channels, which accounted for at least 1,655 videos (18%) on the leaderboard.

Rumble Exclusives creators include a variety of right-wing personalities and conspiracy theorists, as well as gamers, pranksters, and streamers focused on gambling and sports. COVID-19 conspiracy theorist (https://www.mediamatters.org/rumble/russell-brands-show-rumble-uncritically-platforms-right-wing-figures-and-conspiracy-theories) Russell Brand (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4010350), right-wing show The Dan Bongino Show (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4010351), and right-wing personality Steven Crowder (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4010349) appeared on the leaderboard at least 153 times, 115 times, and 60 times, respectively.

Notably, less than 1% of videos on the leaderboard came from gamers, pranksters, gambling and/or sports channels, despite Rumble’s purported efforts to expand its nonpolitical (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4005915) content and attract younger users (https://archive.ph/yjkIH) to the platform. Examples of Rumble Exclusives channels that produce nonpolitical content include “Power Slap (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4010353),” “The Kai ‘N Speed Show (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4010354),” and “Mizkif (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4010355)”:

Videos from Power Slap (https://www.mediamatters.org/rumble/dangerous-slap-fighting-competition-viral-sensation-social-media), a dangerous “slap fighting” organization, appeared on the leaderboard 4 times, earning more than 454,900 views and over 2,400 likes. Power Slap (https://www.mediamatters.org/rumble/dangerous-slap-fighting-competition-viral-sensation-social-media) is led by UFC (https://www.mmafighting.com/2023/3/13/23638485/dana-whites-power-slap-will-not-return-to-tbs-for-season-2) President and Trump sycophant (https://www.insider.com/dana-white-is-only-essential-person-in-sport-donald-trump-2022-9) Dana White. The organization specifies on its website (https://archive.ph/vzBY8#selection-2841.61-2841.126) that the “sport” is “licensed and sanctioned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission,” but the former chairman of the commission that regulates combat sports in Nevada said (https://apnews.com/article/power-slap-league-dana-white-ufc-concussion-99fda5fc571e015145ef420a36d1d9ed) that he “made a mistake” approving the sport and that he’s “not happy about it.” Chris Nowinski, co-founder and CEO of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, called slap fighting “one of the stupidest things you can do,” adding that it’s not comparable to boxing because “you can slip” punches in boxing, but in slap fighting “you’re taking out everything that’s interesting to watch … and just doing the brain damage part.”

Videos from The Kai ‘N Speed Show, a channel which describes itself as “the craziest adventures on the internet,” also appeared on the leaderboard 4 times, earning over 8 million views and at least 66,000 likes. The Kai ‘N Speed Show has aired on Rumble only 4 times, with all 4 appearing on the leaderboard. Hosts Kai Cenat and Darren Watkins Jr. are both known for (https://www.mediamatters.org/rumble/rumbles-exclusive-content-creators-include-dangerous-array-bigoted-pundits-and-conspiracy#paragraph--section-heading--3447873) gaming livestreams and outlandish prank videos, and they have each been at least temporarily banned from various streaming platforms. Recently, Cenat was arrested and charged with inciting a riot (https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/4/23820637/kai-cenat-ps5-giveaway-nyc-union-square) after hosting a video game console giveaway that devolved into chaos and violence in New York City’s Union Square.

Videos from gamer Mizkif appeared on the leaderboard at least 10 times, earning at least 1.2 million views and over 8,600 likes. Mizkif, who is also known as Matthew Rinaudo, is a co-founder of the Texas-based gaming influencer network One True King (https://otknetwork.com/pages/about). Notably, in September 2022 (https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kelseyweekman/twitch-week-gambling-rev-share-scam-creator-allegations), he was temporarily placed on an unpaid leave of absence from the organization while he underwent an investigation (https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/20/23363760/mizkif-trainwreckstv-sexual-harassment-twitch-adrianahlee) into both his alleged role in covering up (https://gamerant.com/mizkif-returns-otk-sexual-assault-cover-up-investigation/) a sexual assault perpetrated by a close friend and “leaked conversations where Mizkif said homophobic and racist slurs.” The investigation was conducted by a “third-party law firm” that “found no direct evidence” showing that Mizkif attempted to cover up a sexual assault.

QAnon channels accounted for 7 of the top 10 most-liked videos

Notably, 7 of the 10 most-liked videos that we identified on the leaderboard between February 1 and July 31 were from QAnon channels. Of those 7 videos, 6 were from the QAnon-supporting X22 Report channel and discussed QAnon-adjacent topics, such as Trump and the military’s alleged seven-year plan, women and child trafficking, and election misinformation. The other was from Phil Godlewski (https://www.thedailybeast.com/qanon-leader-phil-godlewski-has-sordid-past-of-his-ownincluding-a-conviction-for-corrupting-a-minor), a “QAnon leader” who “carried on an inappropriate relationship with a minor that police records suggest turned sexual.” The other 3 videos among the 10 most-liked videos were a livestream of a Trump rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, an episode of Julie Green Ministries' show, and an episode of Steven Crowder's show.

...

## channels which attract young viewers with misogyny and push right-wing extremism have appeared on the leaderboard more frequently in recent months

Videos from channels that push rhetoric associated with the “manosphere (https://www.mediamatters.org/diversity-discrimination/beyond-andrew-tate-meet-misogynistic-manosphere-influencers-proliferating)” — a far-right (https://www.mediamatters.org/white-nationalism/misogynistic-manosphere-influencers-dive-headfirst-antisemitism) community that recruits susceptible young men with toxic masculinity and misogyny, accounted for 3% of the videos we identified on the leaderboard between February 1 and July 31, earning over 46 million views and at least 1 million likes.

Notably, videos from these channels have appeared more frequently of late: They accounted for just 27 appearances on the leaderboard in February, but 94 appearances on the leaderboard in July.

The right-wing misogynistic channels that have appeared most frequently on the leaderboard include “SNEAKO (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4010390),” “FreshandFit (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4010357),” and “TateSpeech by Andrew Tate (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4010356)”:

Videos from Sneako, who has repeatedly promoted white Christian nationalist Nick Fuentes on his channel, appeared on the leaderboard at least 84 times, earning over 8.5 million views and at least 161,000 likes. On May 30, Sneako held a harrowingly antisemitic and homophobic six-hour livestream (https://www.mediamatters.org/rumble/rumble-promoted-and-profited-unhinged-harrowingly-antisemitic-and-homophobic-six-hour) with Fuentes that appeared on Rumble’s leaderboard as the fourth most-liked video on the platform from that day. In Sneako’s video, which Rumble removed but Fuentes then reposted (https://www.mediamatters.org/rumble/rumble-still-rife-racist-antisemitic-and-violent-rhetoric-even-after-it-removed-nick-fuentes) to his own channel, Fuentes effectively denied (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4006471) that the Holocaust was genocide and parroted the antisemitic propaganda of blood libel (https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/blood-libel) from the Middle Ages, accusing Jews of “communing with demons” and of “using Christian blood in their rituals.”

Videos from FreshandFit — which describes itself as the “the #1 men’s podcast in the world” covering “females, fitness, and finances” — appeared on the leaderboard at least 74 times, earning over 19.5 million views and at least 331,000 likes. Hosts of the Fresh & Fit podcast include Why Women Deserve Less author (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4001590) Myron Gaines (https://www.instagram.com/unplugfit/?hl=en) and dating and lifestyle coach (https://calendly.com/ceolifestyleconsulting) Walter Weekes (https://www.instagram.com/freshprinceceo/?hl=en), who both regularly spew (https://www.dailydot.com/irl/tiktoker-misogynistic-dating-advice/) misogynistic (https://twitter.com/fem_rights/status/1563510542257401857) and anti-LGBTQ (https://www.tiktok.com/@realityking72/video/7188628381490072838?r=1&t=8afRpHNW8ti) rhetoric (https://twitter.com/FreshandFitPod/status/1619152210792939520) and demean (https://rumble.com/v29pjhc-fresh-and-fit-after-hours-w-girls.html) a panel of young women who appear on the show’s “After Hours” streams. The show has also embraced (https://www.mediamatters.org/rumble/right-wing-dating-podcast-fresh-fit-embraces-holocaust-denial) Holocaust denial and extreme antisemitism.

Videos from misogynist Andrew Tate appeared on the leaderboard at least 43 times, earning more than 10 million views and at least 340,000 likes. Tate, who is banned (https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/tucker-carlson-hosted-violent-misogynist-influencer-andrew-tate-here-are-some) from Meta, YouTube, and TikTok for his hateful and violent rhetoric, is known for serving as a misogynist guru for young boys and men (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/aug/06/andrew-tate-violent-misogynistic-world-of-tiktok-new-star). He has encouraged a “mass exodus (https://twitter.com/rumblevideo/status/1562986179506556929?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1562986179506556929%7Ctwgr%5E2620b9d6683e6fe7e841ac2021fe231d4bc09718%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.smartcompany.com.au%2Ftechnology%2Fandrew-tate-rumble-video-app%2F)” from other platforms to Rumble and repeatedly promoted (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4010360) the platform (which has repeatedly promoted him (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4010361) in turn, even reportedly (https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/12/media/andrew-tate-rumble-reliable-sources/index.html) paying him $9 million to make Rumble his streaming platform of choice, even though he is banned from most others). Several of Tate’s videos appeared on the leaderboard while he was imprisoned and later under house arrest (https://apnews.com/article/andrew-tate-loses-appeal-house-arrest-romania-284b6d71b007702a4c769f09c710f287) in Romania, awaiting a trial for charges (https://apnews.com/article/romania-andrew-tate-rape-trafficking-charge-fb22c837027bf44ddf0316d46dfaf2b1#::text=Social%20media%20star%20Andrew%20Tate%20charged%20with%20rape%20and%20human%20trafficking%20in%20Romania,-1%20of%205&text=BUCHAREST%2C%20Romania%20%28AP%29%20%E2%80%94,exploit%20women%2C%20prosecutors%20said%20Tuesday.) relating to an alleged sex trafficking operation he ran with his brother along with several charges of rape.

## Methodology...

https://www.mediamatters.org/white-nationalism/misogynistic-manosphere-influencers-dive-headfirst-antisemitism

many lnx twt pix

Misogynistic manosphere influencers dive headfirst into antisemitism

Antifeminist media figures are pushing neo-Nazi rhetoric and spreading conspiracy theories about Jewish people

WRITTEN BY JUSTIN HOROWITZ

PUBLISHED 08/08/23

Content warning: This article contains examples of extremely antisemitic and violent language.

Several misogynistic manosphere influencers are making antisemitic comments and pushing conspiracy theories about Jewish people on podcasts and online.

The manosphereis an online community of websites, bloggers, and influencers cultivating a worldview based on outdated, extremist gender politics repackaged for the internet age. The community valorizes pick-up artists, violent misogynists, incels, men’s rights activists, and conservative cultural critics.

While purporting to provide dating, financial, and lifestyle advice to men, some manosphere figures are aligning themselves with far-right personalities. Their programs serve as gateways to push audiences further to the right toward more dangerous ideologies.

Fresh & Fit podcast

The misogynistic Fresh & Fit podcast, hosted by Why Women Deserve Less author Myron Gaines (real name Amrou Fudl) and dating and lifestyle coach Walter Weekes, describes itself as “the #1 men’s podcast in the world.”The podcast recently hosted Holocaust-denying white nationalist Nick Fuentes, who appeared multiple times and made numerous antisemitic comments. During livestreams, he and white nationalist ally Sneako — another guest — denied the Holocaust, justified Nazi book-burnings, and claimed that transgender identities are the result of Jewish conspiracies.

Two Fresh & Fit videos featuring Fuentes have over1 million views on Rumble, and Fuentes has gloated about his impact on the show’s viewership.

Nick Fresh n Fit

CitationScreenshot from Nick Fuentes' Telegram account

During one of the streams,Gaines bragged, “We’re the biggest platform that’s talking about the JQ. No one else will do it.” (The “JQ” refers to the “Jewish Question,” an antisemitic framework meant to question the human rights of Jewish people. It provided the pretext for the Holocaust.)

Video

CitationFrom the July 10, 2023, edition of the Fresh and Fit podcast

In another livestream, Gaines again bragged about discussing the “JQ” on his show.

“It’s JQ time,” Gaines said. “Everybody else is too much of a bitch to have this conversation. You can’t have this conversation on no major podcast.”

Video

Citation From the July 7, 2023, edition of Fresh & Fit, streamed on Rumble

During one of the podcast’s panel discussions,Gaines praised and defended Adolf Hitler.

:{:{}:

“Though he did things that were morally incorrect, he definitely did a bunch of things correct for his country. That’s a fact,” Gaines said.

Video

Citation From the July 7, 2023, edition of Fresh & Fit After Hours, streamed on Rumble

The two hosts sometimes play a cash register sound effect when talking about Jewish people on their show, a familiar antisemitic gag.

Additionally, Gaines dressed up as a stereotypical caricature of a Jewish person during one of his livestreams with Fuentes.

Fresh n Fit Jewish gag

CitationScreenshot from the July 7, 2023 edition of Fresh & Fit After Hours, streamed on Rumble

A video of Fuentes and several women giving the Nazi “Sieg Heil” salute on the set of the podcast circulated online.

Video

CitationVideo via r/MarchAgainstNazis Reddit page

The two Fresh & Fit hosts have repeatedly hosted9/11 truther andHolocaust denier Ryan Dawsonto push antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jewish people being involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

During an episode titled “Ryan Dawson REVEALS 9/11 Coverup By US Intel Agencies, Saudis & Israel! (PART 1),” Gaines pushed a debunked antisemitic conspiracy theory about Israelis being involved in 9/11.

Video

CitationFrom the May 5, 2023, edition of Fresh & Fit, streamed on Rumble

Hannah Pearl Davis

Antifeminist influencer and podcaster Hannah Pearl Davis has also recently pushed antisemitism online in a since-deleted song titled “Why can’t we talk about the Jews?”

“Why can’t we talk about the — without being kicked off of YouTube,” Davis sang. “Now, I’m not saying Hitler was a good guy, but I kind of want to know why.”

:{:{}:

“Now, there’s all these conspiracy theories, and the more they talk I think maybe they’re right,” Davis continued. “But I can’t even listen to the convo, I can’t even have the conversation, without being canceled by the left and the right.”

Fuentes celebrated Davis’ song, saying, “We love you, Pearl.” He has previously appeared on Davis’ dating talk and debate show.

Davis attempted to walk back her comments during an appearance on Piers Morgan Uncensored, saying the song “was more about cancel culture.” She later added, “I’m a fan of conspiracy theories.”

Sneako

White nationalist ally, manosphere influencer, and former associate of the rapper Ye (formerly Kanye West) Sneako (real name Nico Kenn De Balinthazy) has made several antisemitic comments online and in interviews.

Sneako has been described as “a cheap imitation of [Andrew] Tate” and rose to prominence on YouTube for his gaming, motivational, and man-on-the-street interview videos. He later shifted toward making misogynistic and hateful content.

Sneako has defended Hitler in the past and attacked Jewish people online.

“Jews have the ultimate power,” Sneako said during an interview with No Jumper’s Adam Grandmaison. “That’s just true, they have ultimate control and power and they will abuse it if they need to protect their agenda.”

“In every single industry, if you look at the end of the rabbit hole, it’s always a Jew who controls it,” Sneako said.

“The label owners, the real estate owners, like, all the people with the most amount of money behind the scene is a Jewish guy,” he continued. “Why are we out here slaving away for Jews who are profiting off of us killing each other?”

Video

CitationFrom the October 19, 2022, edition of No Jumper, uploaded on YouTube

Sneako has also said that “the Nazis had drip” and that the swastika is “aesthetically pleasing.”

Video

CitationFrom a Sneako livestream

Jon Zherka

Self-proclaimed woman-hater and manosphere influencer Jon Zherka has made several antisemitic comments.

In podcasts and on Twitter, Zherka has frequently mocked and attacked Jewish people.

During an appearance on Fresh & Fit, Zherka described Jewish men as “extremely unattractive.”

“We Catholics fuck your Jew women,” Zherka continued. “They’re a little short. Your people are short and they fuck a wall.”

Video

CitationFrom the July 12, 2023, edition of Fresh & Fit After Hours

In a bizarre livestream video posted to Reddit, Zherka melted down after finding out a woman he was with is Jewish. “You rule the world and all the banking,” he said to the woman while pretending to hit her.

After the woman said “I don’t like Hitler,” Zherka asked, “The fuck is wrong with you?” He later added, “I’ll regret this, dude.”

Zherka ended the livestream saying, “Hitler was a good guy.”

Video

CitationFrom a Jon Zherka livestream, uploaded to Reddit

Reporting shows how easily toxic rhetoric can infiltrate the minds of young audiences, even among users as young as 11 years old. Parents in particular should be aware of the dangers these figures pose. Additionally, this misogynistic and antisemitic rhetoric does not live in a vacuum online; it can lead to real-world violence, threats, and harassment.

SEEMS EMBLEMATIC, IMMUNE TO FACT/ REALITY

Right-wing media deny climate change in face of deadly and record-breaking extreme ...

https://www.mediamatters.org/climate-deniers/right-wing-media-deny-climate-change-face-deadly-and-record-breaking-extreme

Media Matters for America

Fox Business host Stuart Varney indulged climate change denier Marc Morano and said climate change is “a good debate.” When discussing extreme ...

as the climate crisis becomes more evident and destructive,even exceeding climate scientists’ earlier predictions (https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/09/world/global-climate-change-report-un-ipcc/index.html), Fox News and other influential right-wing outlets and figures are downplaying the severity of climate-fueled events and pushing dangerous climate denial.

This summer has been marked by a series of record-breaking extreme weather events (https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/heat-flooding-smoke-us-summer-extremes-rcna94101), illustrative of the rapidly intensifying effects of global warming. Unprecedented heat waves (https://www.mediamatters.org/media-matters-studies-climate-change-coverage/only-5-national-tv-news-segments-record-shattering), wildfires (https://www.axios.com/2023/07/17/canada-wildfires-firefighter-killed-25-million-acres-burned), and floods (https://www.mediamatters.org/broadcast-networks/only-10-national-tv-news-segments-about-catastrophic-flooding-northeast) have wreaked havoc across North America (https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/how-wildfire-smoke-can-threaten-human-health-even-when-the-fire-is-hundreds-of-miles-away). Meanwhile, global sea surface temperatures (https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/05/world/ocean-surface-temperature-heat-record-climate-intl/index.html) have reached alarming levels, and the world just experienced its hottest day on record — four days in a row. (https://abcnews.go.com/US/4th-july-breaks-record-highest-temperature-measured/story?id=100702850) These events align with scientists' warnings, but the acceleration of warming and the intensity of this summer’s extreme heat suggest that the climate crisis is unfolding faster than expected (https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/08/world/extreme-global-temperature-heat-records-climate/index.html).

Last month, when smoke from hundreds of wildfires raging across Canada polluted the air over major population centers in the U.S., Fox News dismissed the link between the fires and climate (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/response-wildfire-smoke-choking-new-york-city-fox-news-trots-out-tired-climate-denial) change; meanwhile conspiracy theories seeking alternative explanations (https://www.mediamatters.org/tiktok/tiktok-driving-conspiracy-theories-about-canadas-wildfires) for Canada’s record-breaking wildfire season flourished online. In response to news that Earth had reached its hottest temperatures ever recorded, bad actors attempted to distract from the unsettling milestone by focusing on CNN’s use of the phrase “hottest day ever.” (https://www.mediamatters.org/climate-deniers/right-wing-media-downplay-hottest-day-modern-history-help-twitters-community-notes) As deadly heat continues to scorch parts of the U.S., Asia, and Europe with no end in sight (https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/global-heat-wave-weather-temperatures-07-19-23/index.html), and with a 1,000-year flood event having left parts of Vermont and New York state underwater, right-wing media cling to talking points that deny climate science.

By flooding the zone with climate denial right when the climate crisis is most evident, right-wing media run cover for Republican decision-makers who are actively obstructing climate action (https://newrepublic.com/article/172098/republicans-ira-tax-credits), ward off accountability for the fossil fuel industry, and pollute information systems for those attempting to understand the link between extreme weather and our dependence on fossil fuels. This tactic, like the extreme heat, has no end in sight.

Right-wing media responded to deadly climate change-fueled heat and flooding with denial and delay

Fox Business host Stuart Varney indulged climate change denier Marc Morano and said climate change is “a good debate.” When discussing extreme heat in Phoenix, Arizona, Morano said, “This is not outside the normal bounds of hot summer weather,” and claimed that CNN, The New York Times, and others are “weaponizing hot summer heat waves to turn it into some kind of climate action.” Varney asked Morano whether “that is not the result of CO2 emissions'' and said, “It's a good debate. This is a very good debate.” Fox Business, Varney & Co., [7/19/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4008695)]

Far-right radio host Steven Crowder hosted climate contrarian Bjorn Lomborg (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/window-meaningful-climate-action-closes-climate-change-skeptic-bjorn-lomborg-tells-right), who downplayed the climate crisis by arguing that more people die from cold than heat: “We are not talking about a world where most people die from heat. No, most people die from cold. Cold is fantastically more dangerous for a lot of different reasons.” Rumble, Louder with Crowder, [7/19/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4008658)]

The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh suggests that the extreme heat is normal for summer: “Well it’s summertime and that means it's hot outside … This is when the media, as it does every year, claims that the hot weather is a sign of our impending planetary doom.” The Daily Wire, The Matt Walsh Show, [7/18/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4008655)]

Far-right pundit James Lindsay: “Climate struggle sessions ramping up. They're going to try and fail to make that transition again. The propaganda isn't going to work this time either, though.” Twitter, [7/18/23 (https://twitter.com/ConceptualJames/status/1681385565801807887?s=20)]

Fox News host Laura Ingraham, in response to an Axios article about extreme weather: “I'm not taking@Axios (https://twitter.com/axios) seriously until they start crusading against coal burning in China — anyone who claims to worry about carbon emissions should start there or button it. Even the ‘best states for climate change’ get hit with extreme weather” Twitter, [7/18/23 (https://twitter.com/IngrahamAngle/status/1681367089309679632?s=20)]

COVID-19 conspiracy theorist Dr. Naomi Wolf: “Oh! Conclusions: this will happen more and more often because climate change so: stay indoors, do remote work, ‘mask’. Back where we were again.” Twitter, [7/18/23 (https://twitter.com/naomirwolf/status/1681263938674081793?s=20)]

Right-wing Irish political activist and conspiracy theorist Ben Gilroy: “Today media continue to propagandise weather showing high temperatures in Death Valley USA — yet the park rangers wear jackets and gloves? The elites UN climate scam is really about securing a world government plutocracy, depopulation, and severely cutting your quality of life.” Twitter, [7/18/23 (https://twitter.com/BenGilroyIRL/status/1681192434368217088?s=20)]

Fox host Jesse Watters downplayed the extreme heat as simply “summer”: “It's been a hot July. Some call it ‘global warming,’ some call it ‘summer.’ But what's the best way to beat the heat? Ice cream.” Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, [7/17/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4008588)]

Lindsay mocked conditions in the southern U.S. that were so humid (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jul/31/why-you-need-to-worry-about-the-wet-bulb-temperature) they had the potential to interfere with humans’ ability to sweat, pushing the limits of survivability. Twitter, [7/17/23 (https://twitter.com/ConceptualJames/status/1680903222620217344?s=20)]

Longtime fossil fuel shill Steve Milloy (https://www.mediamatters.org/climate-deniers/ahead-big-oils-congressional-hearings-longtime-industry-shill-steve-milloy-keeping): “@AP (https://twitter.com/AP): 'Around the world, millions feel the heat of an unrelenting summer.' Two points: 1. It is summer. It gets hot. 2. There 8 billion in the world. If only 'millions' are experiencing extreme heat, that doesn't sound much like 'climate change.'” Twitter, [7/17/23 (https://twitter.com/JunkScience/status/1680960203309604870?s=20)]

Misogynist influencer and alleged sex trafficker Tristan Tate (https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/20/europe/andrew-tate-charges-trial-intl-gbr/index.html): “They’re naming heatwaves like they used to name new ‘Covid variants’. Can somebody in the government give me the job of whoever makes the names up? I’ll do it for free. Watch out! The ‘lovely warm summer’ heatwave has just hit Europe.” Twitter, [7/15/23 (https://twitter.com/TateTheTalisman/status/1680173342114951168?s=20)]

COVID-19 conspiracy theorist and anti-vaccine influencer Dr. Eli David: “When the weather is a bit warmer than usual: Experts™: IT'S PROOF OF GLOBAL WARMING!!!!! When the weather is colder than usual: Experts™: WEATHER AND CLIMATE ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS YOU MORONS!!!!!” Twitter, [7/17/23 (https://twitter.com/DrEliDavid/status/1680834094253391872?s=20)]

Newsmax host Chris Salcedo mocked concern over the record heat:“Newsflash folks, it gets hot in the summer.” He continued, “After a few particularly hot days on the Fourth of July weekend, the left — they went into full fearmongering mode.” Salcedo then interviewed Milloy, who warned that climate activists would call for climate lockdowns. Newsmax, The Chris Salcedo Show, [7/17/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4008642)]

On The Five, Jesse Watters attacked “the left” for connecting climate change to heat waves across the globe and mocked climate activists:“The left rushing to blame global warming for that dangerous heat wave gripping the nation and the world right now. But I think the heat's getting to their heads. Climate change-obsessed liberals are actually acting crazier than usual, with eco-extremists in Germany literally gluing their hands to airport runways as a way to sound thealarm on how the planet's cooked.” Fox News, The Five, [7/17/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/jesse-watters/fox-news-jesse-watters-left-rushing-blame-global-warming-dangerous-heatwave)]

Fox host Greg Gutfeld also attempted to downplay the record-breaking heat with bizarre logic: “The problem with using weather — like saying, ‘This place broke records’ — how many states, how many countries didn't break records? Nobody ever provides you the context. They’re going, ‘Three countries had record breaking heat waves.’ It’s like, well, ‘How many countries are there?’” Fox News, The Five, [7/17/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4008586)]

On America’s Newsroom, Lomborg suggested that more air conditioning is the way to address extreme heat: “The way to fix this, of course, is to make sure that people get lots of air conditioningand that they can actually afford the energy that they will run their air conditioning on. That’s one. The second one is to remember that, yes, there are many people dying from heat, but many, many more people dying from cold.” Fox News, America’s Newsroom, [7/17/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4008697)]

Climate change denier and former University of Alabama professor Matthew Wielicki: “We used to call this summer. Now we call this a climate crisis.” Twitter, [7/15/23 (https://twitter.com/MatthewWielicki/status/1680223320128774144?s=20)]

Milloy: “India's monsoon season is not affected by emissions. Indians have died in monsoon flooding since there have been Indians and monsoons. It is really dishonest and disgusting to surf tragic deaths for climate.” Twitter, [7/14/23 (https://twitter.com/JunkScience/status/1679864931754164225?s=20)]

Right-wing British pundit Brendan O’Neill, who has been praised by anti-renewable energy activist Michael (https://twitter.com/shellenberger/status/1677711268504027136?s=20) Shellenberger (https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_shellenberger_why_renewables_can_t_save_the_planet), wrote that “global warming could be good for humankind.” Citing Lomborg, O’Neill wrote that “the truth is that global warming could be good for humankind” because more people die from the cold than heat. “It’s pissing down in Britain,” he continued, “Where’s our global warming? Even the name of the heatwave is designed to conjure up visions of hellfire and torment.” Spiked, [7/14/23 (https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/07/14/its-a-heatwave-not-the-end-of-the-world/)]

On Fox News at Night, Carl Demaio, a political operative and conservative radio host, called a California campaign to warn residents about climate-driven extreme heat “wasteful spending” and “fear porn.” Fox News, Fox News at Night, [7/12/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4008698)]

Newsmax host Eric Bolling, in response to calls for climate action after flooding in the Northeast, denied that human activity is responsible for warming: “It's raining, so we all must change our behavior. Unprecedented weather events — look flooding’s terrible, loss of property is a disaster, and our hearts go out to those affected. But just imagine, for one moment, the ridiculousness and the pompousness to think that: one, our behavior has any real impact on weather and the Earth, and two, even if that were true — which it’s not — that we could do anything about it without making things worse.” Newsmax, Eric Bolling The Balance, [7/11/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4008689)]

Fox host Laura Ingraham also mocked the extreme heat and calls to action, suggesting that climate change is a made-up crisis: “It's hot, hot, hot all right. After all, we're in the middle of a season called ‘summer.’” Ingraham later played a clip from a previous show, arguing that “COVID lockdowns set the predicate for more to come.” She said, “Their so-called public health expertswere wrong on everything from lockdowns to masks to social distancing. And yet now we see the usual suspects lining up to exploit another hyped crisis: of course, I’m talking about climate change.” Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, [7/11/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4008687)]

Right-wing journalist and author Alex Berenson: As climate change hysteria reaches a new level of screeching (1-in-1000 this, world's hottest that), remember that weather-related deaths have PLUNGED since 1970. The wealthier the world becomes, the easier managing climate change will be. And wealth requires energy. Period. Twitter, [7/10/23 (https://twitter.com/AlexBerenson/status/1678440909657239552?s=20)]

On Jesse Watters Primetime, guest host Pete Hegseth mocked reports of record-breaking heat and blamed media for “hyping climate insanity”: If there is one thing the mindless left loves to magically discover every year, it’s that summer is hot. Hegseth continued, “It was hotter in New York in April.And it’s not even the hottest June we’ve ever had. The data shows that the 80s and 90s … were a lot hotter.” Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, [7/7/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4008694)]

https://www.mediamatters.org/rumble/rumble-profiting-videos-nick-fuentes-antisemitic-rally

https://www.mediamatters.org/rumble/youtube-allowing-fringe-streamers-push-audiences-harmful-content-rumble-and-even-profiting

mma 7 23

no lnx pix

Ads from major companies appeared on Rumble videos with extreme anti-LGBTQ rhetoric during Pride Month

Ads from Aleve, Chevrolet, Maybelline, McDonalds, Target, Tempur-Pedic, and Western Union appeared on a video alleging that the LGBTQ movement's “end game is to sterilize humanity”

Special PROGRAMS

LGBTQ

WRITTEN BY NATALIE MATHES

PUBLISHED 07/06/23 2:33 PM EDT

Ads from major companies that claim to support LGBTQ rights are appearing on Rumble videos that spread extreme anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, including on videos that spew anti-LGBTQ slurs and on one that alleges that the LGBTQ movement’s “end game is to sterilize humanity.”

Rumble is an extreme right-wing video-sharing platform that is backed by various high-profile right-wing figures and dominated by QAnon content. Marketing itself as a defender of “free speech”, the platform has big ambitions to compete with a range of other tech companies and provide the infrastructure to make figures that have been banned elsewhere “immune” from so-called “cancel culture.” Rumble has also partnered with the Republican National Committee to host the official livestream for the first Republican presidential primary debate on August 23.

The platform technically has a policy against “Content or material that is grossly offensive to the online community, including but not limited to, racism, anti-semitism and hatred” — but it doesn’t mention anything specifically about sexuality- or gender identity-based hate speech, and has previously failed to elaborate on its evidently limited enforcement practices. Rumble also has a documented history of profiting from homophobic, white nationalist, and antisemitic content on its site. In March, Netflix pulled advertisements from the website after Media Matters reported that they were appearing alongside videos espousing Holocaust denial.

:{:{}:

This Pride Month, Media Matters identified ads from over 50 major companies that appeared alongside Rumble videos that spread extreme anti-LGBTQ hate. These companies include:

:{:{}:

1-800 Flowers, ABC Mouse, Aleve, Alibaba, Allianz, Amazon, Ancestry,Apartments.com, Aussie, Capital One, Chevrolet, Crate&Barrel, CVS, Dave’s Killer Bread, eBay, Fiverr, Fortnite, Genesis, GoDaddy, Grainger, GrubHub, Intel, LG, Maybelline, Mazda, McDonalds, National University, Norton, Office Depot, PBS Kids, PlutoTV, Pods Moving & Storage, Ruggable, Salomon, Shopify, SimpliSafe, Spinbrush, Street Fighter 6, Target, Tempur-pedic, Temu, Toyota, Trint, UNICEF, Uniqlo, UPS,Viator, Welch Allyn, Western Union, and Wyndham.

Despite this, several of these companies, including Capital One, Maybelline, eBay, Uniqlo, UPS, and Amazon, have celebrated Pride Month on social media — seemingly expressing support for the LGBTQ community.

During Pride Month, Rumble profited from ads from major companies that appeared on videos that pushed vile anti-LGBTQ rhetoric

Ads from the companies noted above appeared on the following Rumble videos, enabling the platform to profit from extreme anti-LGBTQ rhetoric during Pride Month. What’s more, each of these videos either came from a “Rumble Exclusives” creator and/or appeared on Rumble’s “Editor Picks” list. Rumble has recruited and sponsored an array of bigoted pundits and conspiracy theorists to produce exclusive content for the platform, and it frequently promotes videos from these and other extreme channels on its running list of “Editor Picks.” This means that the site directly promoted and/or sponsored each of these videos:

Turning Point USA host Drew Hernandez fearmongered that the LGBTQ movement’s “end game is to sterilize humanity. Depopulate. So that the homosexuals can just abduct children.” He also baselessly claimed that “the economy is not going to be accessible to you if you do not worship homosexuality.”

In the same video, Hernandez called New York a “pedophile haven” because New York City Mayor Eric Adams signed an executive order to protect access to gender-affirming care. He added, “So come to New York and bring your children and place them on the altar for Lucifer for we can sacrifice your children to them and hack their bodies and drink their blood.”

Drew Hernandez anti-LGBTQ video on Rumble's Editor Picks list

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk celebrated being able to use an anti-trans slur on Rumble, saying, “Since we're on Rumble, we can say t–––––, we can say climate change is vastly overrated. The election, the 2020 election was stolen. … Vaccines probably, the mRNA vaccines probably hurts you. What else? ... Zelensky is a thug. T–––––.”

Charlie Kirk anti-LGBTQ video on Rumble's Editor Picks list

Seamus Coughlin, a recurring co-host of Tim Pool’s Timcast IRL, said, “The way the left has normally approached regular, everyday people is with slogans like ‘Protect Trans Kids.’ Now what does that really mean? It means, protect the groomers who are trying to confuse and pervert children.”

Seamus Coughlin anti-LGBTQ video on Rumble's Editor Picks list

Reacting to an article from the Daily Mail about teachers’ efforts to be more inclusive of LGBTQ students, Rumble Exclusives creator Nick Rekieta said, “Let's be honest that homosexuality is statistically and naturally aberrant. … Why are we pretending that it is not non-normative? It's non-normative by statistics. It's non-normative. It's not even close.” He added, “But they need it to be normalized for some reason because, again, these people have a deep-seated obsession with sex and sexuality, so much so that it would override the overwhelmingly compelling human prerogative to not speak to someone else's child about sex. Because, bro, that's fucking gross.”

Rekieta Law anti-LGBTQ video on Rumble's Editor Picks list

In another video, ranting about the right-wing crusade to demonize Bud Light after the company partnered with a trans TikTok influencer, Rekieta used an anti-gay slur, saying, “Why the fuck did you ever think that your shitty, generic, Bud Light, play to the middle beer, could take a niche political stance and shove it down your customers' throats and change their minds? My God, that is like McDonald's telling me how to think. There's other chicken nuggets you f–––––– I can get them anywhere. I don't care about yours."

On his show Louder with Crowder, host and Rumble Exclusives creator Steven Crowder praised Rumble for allowing him to use an anti-trans slur on the platform. In another video, while airing a TikTok of gay men sharing the year that they came out, Crowder joked, “Why did they film this in front of a firing wall?” and played a sound effect of gunshots.

On the Rumble Exclusives channel “Redacted News,” billionaire Republican mega-donor and anti-public school crusader Leila Centner fearmongered about drag queen story hour, saying, “This is a war. It's a spiritual war. And unless we work as hard as we can work, to fight back and keep the souls of our children; children, they're going to sexualize them, demonize them, and just continue to beat down their self-esteem and confidence.” Centner went on to explain that at the private schools that she owns, the only way to “keep our children safe” from “the woke insanity that’s happening today” is to ensure that no teacher supports or is aligned with “critical race theory,” “gender confusion,” or “BLM,” which she claimed was “obviously a terrorist organization."

On The Rubin Report, host and Rumble Exclusives creator Dave Rubin baselessly fearmongered that in California, if a parent doesn’t “affirm” their child’s trans identity, “The state can now come and take your child away from you. Child services can come and now say, ‘Your child is not yours.’ In essence, that you are abusing your child. They will put that child in some sort of state facility or give them to some other group of people who will literally chemically castrate them, force them to undergo drugs and procedures and all of that stuff that is happening in California right now.”

On her Rumble Exclusives show, former Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle told pizzagate conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec that drag queens “are the devil's advocates. They are trying to remove religion and wipe and eradicate it out of everyone's heart, and destroy Christ.”

Pagination

Current page1

…

Rumble's exclusive content creators include pro-Trump pranksters and professional fighters alongside a dangerous array of bigoted pundits and conspiracy theorists

04/11/23 4:57 PM EDT

Mainstream journalists fail to mention that Rumble is rife with extremism

The GOP is officially partnering with the extremist-friendly video platform Rumble

04/12/23 5:52 PM EDT that other platforms ban

https://www.mediamatters.org/rumble/ads-major-companies-appeared-rumble-videos-extreme-anti-lgbtq-rhetoric-during-pride-month

mma 6 23

Blake Neff, a former writer for Fox’s now-defunct Tucker Carlson Tonight who resigned from the show in 2020 following revelations (https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/tucker-carlsons-top-writer-was-making-bigoted-and-gross-posts-online-forums) that he made racist and sexist posts in an online forum, has resurfaced on Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk’s radio show, apparently as a producer.

In July 2020, CNN’s Oliver Darcy reported (https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/10/media/tucker-carlson-writer-blake-neff/index.html) that Neff, then the top writer for Tucker Carlson’s show, had been anonymously posting racist, misogynistic, homophobic, and other offensive content on an online forum for five years. Neff used racist and homophobic slurs, referred to women in a derogatory manner, andpushed white supremacist content while writing for Carlson’s show. Neff resigned after CNN contacted him for comment.

On the website (https://thecharliekirkshow.com/podcasts/the-charlie-kirk-show/sinking-feeling-with-blake-neff-and-ann-atkinson) for The Charlie Kirk Show, Neff is identified as “producer Blake.” In addition to appearing on that show, Neff has also joined Kirk on a new panel show called THOUGHTCRIME.

Neff appeared with Kirk on the first episode of THOUGHTCRIME, a new weekly panel show streamed live (https://rumble.com/v2uh4cu-thoughtcrime-ep.-1-find-my-gop-tucker-drop-topless-trans-prideteenth-dwr.html) exclusively on Kirk’s Rumble channel that’s apparently co-hosted by Pizzagate conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec. Kirk introduced (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4007335) Neff as “very high-IQ Blake,” saying, “And we’re really honored to have Blake on our team —he’s great. And the most, let’s just say, awful people in the world tried to destroy Blake’s life and we’re not going to let that happen.” Later he added, “We love Blake and he does a great job.”

In a prerecorded introduction attached to the audio-only version of the show, Kirk described THOUGHTCRIME as “R-rated,” with “rather graphic elements,” and “not homeschool friendly.”

On June 21, Neff appeared again on Salem Radio Network’s The Charlie Kirk Show to discuss the submersible vessel (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/21/titanic-sub-search-underwater-noises-picked-up-by-canadian-plane-us-coast-guard-says) carrying four tourists and a captain that got lost while diving to the Titanic shipwreck.Kirk described (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4007339) Neff as “our resident submarine expert,” and a chyron identified (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4007342) Neff as “The Charlie Kirk Show Submarine expert.” Neff described the plight of the lost vessel story as “refreshing” as far as news cycles go.

After the break, Kirk referred (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4007343) to Neff as “part of” the new weekly panel show. Neff also said, “I don’t want to say, like, you should not” go on a submersible vessel seemingly operated (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/titanic-submarine-missing-video-game-xbox-controller-is-that-normal/) on a video game controller.[vid]

during THOUGHTCRIME, the panelists repeatedly used an anti-trans slur (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4007350) and discussed (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4007336) the X-rated topic of “glory holes” in response to The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh’s claim (https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1669457286677291008) on Twitter that “Fox Corp is celebrating Pride by encouraging employees to read about ‘“glory holes.’”

This type of talk stands out coming from Kirk, not only because of the raunchy topic, but also because of how it contrasts with the self-righteous Christian nationalist rhetoric (https://www.mediamatters.org/charlie-kirk/turning-point-usas-pastors-summit-featured-christian-nationalist-ideology-and-right) he’s embraced over the last year with the launch of Turning Point USA Faith (https://www.mediamatters.org/charlie-kirk/charlie-kirks-turning-point-usa-increasingly-leaning-right-wing-christian), an initiative to propagandize young people by setting up Turning Point USA chapters in their churches.

“What is a glory hole?” asked Kirk.

“Oh my sweet summer child,” responded Neff.

Kirk then Googled it live on air.

https://www.mediamatters.org/rumble/mainstream-journalists-fail-mention-rumble-rife-extremism-other-platforms-ban

https://www.mediamatters.org/eric-trump/hitler-promoting-antisemites-will-speak-trumps-miami-hotel-alongside-eric-trump-lara

ref mma 5 23

the Trump National Doral resort will host two antisemites who have promoted pro-Adolf Hitler propaganda and spread virulently antisemitic conspiracy theories. They will be speaking at an event in Miami alongside numerous Team Trump personalities, including Eric Trump, Lara Trump, and Devin Nunes.

Trump Doral speaker Scott McKay (https://www.mediamatters.org/diversity-discrimination/eric-trump-tourmate-scott-mckay-claims-jewish-people-are-frauds-and-hitler), who has a streaming show on Rumble,has claimed that Jewish people orchestrated 9/11 and were responsible for the assassinations of Presidents Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and William McKinley. He has also said that Jewish people routinely torture children and eat their hearts.

He has praised Hitler for supposedly trying to take down a Jewish banking system and said, “Hitler was actually fighting the same people that we're trying to take down today.”

Trump Doral speaker Charlie Ward (https://www.mediamatters.org/eric-trump/eric-trump-touring-another-antisemite-who-shares-pro-hitler-propaganda), who also streams a show on Rumble, has shared posts praising Hitler for supposedly “warning us” about Judaism; claiming that “VIRUSES are Man (JEW) made”; and attacking the alleged Jewish media for supposedly lying about the Holocaust.

The two are featured speakers in the “ReAwaken America” tour, which is set (https://www.thrivetimeshow.com/reawaken-america-tour/) to stop at Trump’s Miami hotel on May 12 and 13. Scheduled (https://rumble.com/v2m633m-reawaken-america-tour-miami-audio-schedule-released-.html) to (https://www.thrivetimeshow.com/wp-content/uploads/Trump-National-Doral-Miami-Episode-19-Version-8-ThrivetimeShow.jpg) speak (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4004993) alongside McKay and Ward are numerous members of Trump’s orbit, including: Eric Trump, Lara Trump, former Trump economic adviser Peter Navarro, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former senior Department of Defense official Kash Patel, former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker, Truth Social CEO Devin Nunes, and Trump ally Roger Stone.

Numerous other far-right conspiracy theorists will be speaking, including Stella Immanuel (https://www.thedailybeast.com/stella-immanuel-trumps-new-covid-doctor-believes-in-alien-dna-demon-sperm-and-hydroxychloroquine), Mel K (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/foxs-tom-homan-and-sara-carter-are-honoring-dominion-smartmatic-and-seth-rich-conspiracy), Liz Crokin (https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-hosts-event-featuring-qanon-pizzagate-conspiracy-theorist/story?id=94701765), Ann Vandersteel (https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/ann-vandersteel-the-fact-that-trump-has-not-denounced-qanon-is-proof-qanon-is-legitimate/), Mike Lindell (https://www.mediamatters.org/mike-lindell), and Patrick Byrne (https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/election-denial-movement-and-trump-have-become-increasingly-intertwined).

Media outlets have previously noted that the tour, which has been holding events across the country, has also featured QAnon supporters (https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-resort-to-host-pro-qanon-speaking-tour-led-by-michael-flynn), conspiracy theories (https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/clay-clark-reawaken-america-maga-tour-trump-1234594574/amp/), and Christian nationalist rhetoric (https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/michael-flynn-reawaken-america-tour/).

Michael Flynn co-founded the tour and also has a history of antisemitism.He stated (https://www.timesofisrael.com/michael-flynn-calls-for-us-to-have-one-religion-sparks-outrage-from-jewish-groups/) on the tour that he wants the United States to “have one religion.” In 2016 (https://www.mediamatters.org/mike-cernovich/trump-national-security-adviser-michael-flynn-promoted-anti-semitic-tweet-and), he shared -- and then deleted -- a tweet (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4004838) stating “Not anymore, Jews. Not anymore.” And in 2021, he criticized (https://www.mediamatters.org/michael-flynn/event-don-bolduc-mike-flynn-says-were-being-marched-nazi-death-camps) Holocaust victims, stating: “Jesus, how could somebody stand there and just allow these people to do that to them? And then knowing what they knew, how could they get on that train? I would have rather attacked that machine gun nest.”

During a recent appearance (https://rumble.com/v2mff04-wef-announces-global-reset-acceleration-with-clay-clark-on-sat.-night-lives.html) on a QAnon program (https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/trump-attorney-asks-viewers-qanon-supporting-show-send-him-evidence-regard), tour co-founder Clay Clark told (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4004999) viewers that “Eric Trump is a good friend of mine” and said “it's exciting … that Trump's inner circle is now going, they're all reaching out to our tour, to the ReAwaken America tour, to Gen. Flynn, to myself, to Kash Patel. And they're all saying, hey, can we come to the tour?”

Team Trump is hosting and participating in the tour and associating with its Hitler-promoting speakers despite heavy criticism over Trump’s meeting (https://www.adl.org/resources/blog/extremists-react-trump-dinner-ye-and-nick-fuentes) last December with Ye (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/01/kanye-west-alex-jones-hilter-interview/) and Nick Fuentes (https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/status/1615370123442790400), who have similarly praised Hitler.

The Trump officials’ association with McKay and Ward is part of a larger Republican Party pattern, with numerous officials (https://www.mediamatters.org/diversity-discrimination/100-plus-examples-republican-politicians-embracing-antisemitic-media-2021) promoting (https://www.mediamatters.org/diversity-discrimination/rep-paul-gosar-promotes-pro-hitler-and-holocaust-denying-site-after-it) or speaking alongside antisemites.

Scott McKay claimed Jewish people torture children and eat their hearts and “Hitler was actually fighting the same people that we're trying to take down today”

\pix]From antisemitic commentator Scott McKay's [Telegram page (https://t.me/patriotstreetfighter/3210).

McKay, who also goes by Patriot Streetfighter, is a speaker at the Trump Doral event. He frequently makes antisemitic comments. Among the many examples:

McKay claimed that Jewish people “built Hitler. … He was created by them” because they needed a catalyst to profit from a military conflict. He also praised Hitler for supposedly attempting to spurn his Jewish creators by trying to break “free of the Rothschilds’ corrupt money-magic fiat system” and create “a banking system for the people and the free world.”

McKay said: “Hitler was actually fighting the same people that we're trying to take down today.”

McKay claimed that 9/11 was perpetrated by “the same group of people that has done a very good job at hiding under the religion of Judaism."

McKay claimed that many Jewish people are hiding “under the cover of this religion called Judaism” so they can “murder children.”

McKay claimed that Jewish people practice “satanism, child sacrifice, bleeding them out, torturing them, consuming them, eating their heart.”

McKay claimed that Jewish people created a banking system “in exchange for the child blood sacrifices.”

McKay claimed that Jewish people were responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing and the assassinations of Presidents Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and William McKinley.

For more on Scott McKay, go here (https://www.mediamatters.org/diversity-discrimination/eric-trump-tourmate-scott-mckay-claims-jewish-people-are-frauds-and-hitler).

Charlie Ward shared posts praising Hitler for “warning us” about Judaism, claiming “VIRUSES are Man (JEW) made”

[pix]

Ward is a speaker at the Trump Doral event. During a November ReAwaken America tour stop in Branson, Missouri, he said: “How many people in here know that more people have been killed by the jab than were killed in the Holocaust? And they're still doing it because nobody can stop them.”

He frequently promotes antisemitism and pro-Hitler content. Among the many examples:

Ward shared a post embedding a speech by Hitler and praising him for “warning us” about Judaism.

Ward promoted a book which claims to show “that the official narrative of the Holocaust cannot be sustained.”

Ward shared a post claiming that “VIRUSES are Man (JEW) made including influenza, Polio, Measles, AIDS so was Covid created as a 'excuse' to vaccinate (contaminate)... .”

Ward shared a post that referenced the antisemitic publication the Protocols of the Elders of Zion: “The vaxxx passports are for you the GOYIM not for the specially selected, some elites and the 33's and above - THE RULES DO NOT APPLY .. You are the EXPERIEMENT NOT THEM - Protocols of ZION.”

Ward shared a post that stated: “On this Memorial Day please remember the sacrifices our soldiers make so that JEWISH DRUG DEALERS can grow Poppy Plants in Afghanistan and control the worldwide Heroin supply.”

For more on Charlie Ward, go here (https://www.mediamatters.org/eric-trump/eric-trump-touring-another-antisemite-who-shares-pro-hitler-propaganda).

https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/facebook-right-leaning-pages-lead-discussion-about-home-invasions-right-wing-media-and-nra

mma 4 23

no pix lnx

On Facebook, right-leaning pages lead discussion about home invasions, with right-wing media and the NRA praising homeowners who shoot suspected intruders

Right-leaning Facebook pages earned 65% of total interactions on posts about home invasions, despite sharing only 25% of them

Special PROGRAMS

GUNS & PUBLIC SAFETY

WRITTEN BY NATALIE MATHES

RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM CARLY EVANS

PUBLISHED 04/26/23

On Facebook in the last year, right-wing media outlets have amplified sensational posts that praise people who have shot, and in some instances killed, alleged home intruders.

In a new study, Media Matters compiled and analyzed Facebook posts about home invasions from news and politics pages in the last year and found that right-leaning pages earned 65% of total interactions on posts about home invasions, despite sharing only 25% of them. Among these right-leaning pages are right-wing media outlets and the National Rifle Association.

A series of recent shootings have refocused the nation’s attention on so-called “castle doctrine” — the idea that a person doesn’t have a “duty to retreat” before using deadly force to defend themselves when in their home — and “stand your ground” laws that apply this idea outside the home, using what critics call a “shoot first, ask questions later” model that allows “anyone who believes their life to be in danger to use lethal force in an act of self-defense, without any duty to retreat.”

On April 13, an elderly man in Kansas City, Missouri, shot teenager Ralph Yarl in the head after Yarl mistakenly rang the home's doorbell while he was trying to pick up his siblings. On April 15, a homeowner in rural New York shot and killed 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis when a car she was riding in pulled into his driveway by accident while searching for a friend’s house. On April 18, a man in Florida shot a 6-year-old girl, her parents, and another neighbor after a basketball accidentally rolled onto his property. The next day, a man in Texas shot two high school cheerleaders who had mistaken his car for their own after a late-night practice.

According to an April 22 report by Insider, gun violence experts say that these recent shootings are “a larger symptom of a distinctly American culture that empowers people to open fire, even when there's no real threat.” This violent culture stems from the NRA’s decades-long campaign pushing “stand your ground” laws across the nation.

Most Americans are not satisfied with existing gun laws, but right-wing media continue to defend the role guns play in America. For example, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson claimed in January that assault weapons “are not a threat to anybody,” and the Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles said that guns had “nothing to do with” a recent mass shooting in Nashville. Salem Media Group’s Dennis Prager has falsely insisted that “there's no way to stop the ubiquity of guns” in America, and Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk has claimed, “It’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment.”

By defending the role guns play in America and working to convince Americans that there is no real possibility of passing stronger gun control measures in the U.S., right-wing media encourage the false belief that the only way to make ourselves safer is to take matters into our own hands and further arm ourselves. This provides cover for politicians who work with the NRA and, conveniently, creates bigger business for gun sellers.

In the last year — from April 20, 2022, through April 20, 2023 — Facebook has enabled the NRA and right-wing media outlets to sensationalize and amplify stories about alleged home invasions across its platform. Several of these stories pushed the narrative that people need to own guns in order to defend their families, and even praised people who shoot and kill alleged home intruders.

In the last year, right-leaning Facebook pages shared only 25% of posts about home invasions but earned 65% of total interactions

In the last year, Facebook pages that regularly post about U.S. news and politics shared at least 8,100 posts about home invasions, earning over 6.5 million total interactions. Right-leaning pages shared only 25% of these posts (about 2,000) but earned 65% of total interactions, amounting to over 4.2 million.

Several of these posts praised elderly homeowners in particular for shooting, and in some instances killing, alleged home intruders, with Rumble’s Steven Crowder captioning one such post “nice shot.” Others celebrated instances when it was revealed that homeowners would not be charged for shooting and killing people who trespassed on their property.

Home invasion Facebook posts praising elderly

Home invasion Facebook posts celebrating no charges

Ideologically nonaligned Facebook pages shared 72% of posts (nearly 6,000), but earned only 30% of total interactions (nearly 2 million). Left-leaning pages shared only 3% of posts (about 200) and earned 5% of total interactions, amounting to 294,000.

Using CrowdTangle, Media Matters compiled a list of 1,773 Facebook pages that frequently posted about U.S. politics from January 1 to August 25, 2020. For an explanation of how we compiled pages and identified them as right-leaning, left-leaning, or ideologically nonaligned, see the methodology here. The resulting list consisted of 771 right-leaning pages, 497 ideologically nonaligned pages, and 505 left-leaning pages. Using CrowdTangle, Media Matters compiled all posts about home invasions from the pages

The NRA earned 17% of total interactions on Facebook posts about home invasions in the last year, despite sharing just 0.1% of them

The NRA's official Facebook page earned the most total interactions on posts about home invasions during the time frame studied. The page earned over 1.1 million total interactions on just 9 such posts, meaning the NRA shared just 0.1% of Facebook posts about home invasions from U.S. news and politics pages over the last year, but earned 17% of total interactions.

After the NRA, the 6 Facebook pages that earned the most total interactions on posts about home invasions were pages for right-wing outlets, organizations, and personalities. In order, they include Blue Lives Matter, Fox News, Breitbart, Ben Shapiro, Colion Noir, and TheBlaze.

home invasion other top 6 collage

The top 6 posts that earned the most total interactions were from the NRA, and all featured headlines praising homeowners for shooting alleged intruders.

NRA Facebook posts about home invasions

The NRA has also run at least 115 ads on Meta platforms over the last year on an additional Facebook page. These ads endorsed midterm candidates it claimed would defend your “right to protect your home and family” and attacked candidates it claimed would “leave your family defenseless.” Facebook earned at least $500,000 on these ads, which reached an estimated audience of up to 60.9 million users.

NRA Meta Ads home invasion

Networks of Facebook pages operated by right-wing outlets amplified numerous stories praising homeowners for shooting, and in some instances killing, alleged home intruders

Facebook has a history of profiting from networks of right-wing pages that exploit its platform to amplify various right-wing talking points — including conservative narratives around gun ownership.

The Western Journal shared nearly 350 posts about home invasions in the last year across 19 Facebook pages, collectively earning nearly 160,000 total interactions. Some of these posts featured an article praising a resident for sending suspects “running for their lives,” while others claimed, “You know what they say — real gun control means hitting your target. And this homeowner did just that.”

Western Journal home invasion collage

TheBlaze shared 195 posts about home invasions in the last year across 10 Facebook pages, collectively earning more than 300,000 total interactions. Some of these posts featured an article claiming that “armed home invaders wearing ski masks” shot a homeowner, but that homeowner also had a gun and shot “both crooks dead.” Others featured an article headlined, “Video: It’s all smiles before crooks invade home; seconds later it’s all backsides as they run for their lives from homeowner firing ‘AK-47-style’ gun at them.”

TheBlaze collage of home invasion posts

The Daily Wire’s network shared 160 posts about home invasions in the last year across 7 Facebook pages, collectively earning at least 285,000 total interactions on these posts — some of which cited “castle doctrine” as protecting a woman in Texas who fatally shot an alleged home invader.

The Daily Wire home invasion collage

Fox News shared 24 posts about home invasions in the last year across 3 Facebook pages, collectively earning more than 200,000 total interactions. Some of these posts praised elderly homeowners for turning the tables on suspected home invaders.

Fox News home invasion collage

Methodology...

https://www.mediamatters.org/rumble/rumble-home-harmful-right-wing-content-and-creators-will-be-exclusively-livestreaming-first

4 23

https://www.mediamatters.org/rumble/rumbles-exclusive-content-creators-include-dangerous-array-bigoted-pundits-and-conspiracy

https://www.mediamatters.org/rumble/rumbles-leaderboard-right-wing-pundits-and-qanon-figures-are-agitating-civil-war-after

Following former President Donald Trump’s indictment, Rumble promoted videos of right-wing pundits and QAnon figures pushing civil war rhetoric on its “Battle Leaderboard Top 50.”

On March 18, Trump announced (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/18/us/politics/trump-indictment-arrest-protests.html) on his Truth Social (https://www.mediamatters.org/truth-social) account that he was expecting Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office to indict and arrest him the following Tuesday, March 21, telling his followers to “PROTEST” and “TAKE OUR NATION BACK.” The posts (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4002479) came while a Manhattan grand jury heard testimony as part of an ongoing investigation (https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/03/14/trump-stormy-daniels-case/?itid=lk_inline_manual_9) into Trump’s alleged payment of hush money to adult film actor Stormy Daniels in 2016 to cover up an alleged affair (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/porn-star-stormy-daniels-detailed-alleged-affair-with-trump-in-2011-interview/2018/01/19/8bdd1a50-fbb5-11e7-ad8c-ecbb62019393_story.html). Trump is now expected to surrender (https://www.reuters.com/world/us/new-york-plans-trump-surrender-with-barricades-courtroom-closings-2023-04-02/) to prosecutors in Manhattan on Tuesday, April 4.

In the weeks since (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/right-wing-media-react-report-trumps-indictment), Trump’s right-wing media allies have gone well beyond merely downplaying (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-has-ignored-trumps-incitement-violence-and-racist-attack-da-alvin-bragg) and (https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/right-wing-media-scramble-defend-trump-ahead-potential-indictment-and-arrest) defending (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-returns-barricades-indicted-donald-trump) his wrongdoing (https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/trump-called-protests-meta-profited-his-newly-reinstated-facebook-page). The right-wing echo chamber has devolved into full blown wartime (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-mark-levin-calls-indictment-donald-trump-war-conservatism-and-maga) rhetoric (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-guest-calls-indictment-donald-trump-spiritual-warfare), comparing the indictment to the atrocities committed by communist (https://www.mediamatters.org/spanish-language-media/right-wing-spanish-media-spuriously-attack-trump-indictment-political) dictator (https://www.mediamatters.org/mark-levin/fox-host-mark-levin-calls-trump-indictment-grotesque-stalinist-maoist-type-action) Joseph (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-contributor-compares-indictment-donald-trump-stalin-era) Stalin (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-laura-ingraham-compares-donald-trumps-indictment-stalins-purges), fearmongering that America will soon witness (https://www.mediamatters.org/rachel-campos-duffy/watch-fox-news-host-rachel-campos-duffy-melt-down-trumps-indictment-over-course) political executions (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-guest-warns-indictment-donald-trump-will-lead-political-executions), and predicting (https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/fox-news-reacts-donald-trumps-indictment-issuing-warning-countrys-not-going-stand-it) or alluding to (https://www.mediamatters.org/tiktok/i-smell-civil-war-far-right-tiktok-users-are-alluding-violence-following-news-trumps) — if not encouraging (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-host-pete-hegseth-trump-mugshot-will-be-symbol-resistance-against-uniparty-deep-state) or (https://www.mediamatters.org/ali-alexander/stop-steal-organizer-ali-alexander-i-agree-we-need-good-authoritarian-leader-10-years) calling for (https://www.mediamatters.org/ali-alexander/stop-steal-organizer-ali-alexander-trumps-indictment-you-want-raise-me-indictment-ill) — retaliation (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/tucker-carlson-threatens-retaliation-red-states-over-indictment-donald-trump) including violence (https://www.mediamatters.org/alex-jones/alex-jones-violence-must-be-resorted-if-we-fail-and-then-we-should-be-having-large) and civil war (https://www.mediamatters.org/steven-crowder/youtube-steven-crowder-claims-arresting-donald-trump-would-be-how-you-start-civil).

Unsurprisingly, the right-wing pundits who have been encouraged to make a home for themselves on Rumble are also agitating their audiences toward civil war. Launched in 2013, Rumble (https://www.mediamatters.org/rumble) plays an important role in the alternative digital infrastructure, which caters (https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/elon-musk-continues-cater-far-right-twitter-accounts-promoting-bigotry-extremism-and) to the extreme (https://www.mediamatters.org/truth-social/how-devin-nunes-and-kash-patel-appealed-qanon-extremists-build-truth-socials-user-base) right. For years, conservatives (https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/06/19/peter-thiel-facebook-new-right/) have falsely (https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/msnbc-angelo-carusone-discusses-how-elon-musks-purchase-twitter-could-increase) claimed (https://www.mediamatters.org/january-6-insurrection/report-january-6-investigators-confirm-social-media-platforms-bent-their) that social media (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/22/twitter-admits-bias-in-algorithm-for-rightwing-politicians-and-news-outlets) platforms (https://csmapnyu.org/research/echo-chambers-rabbit-holes-and-algorithmic-bias-how-youtube-recommends-content-to-real-users) are biased against them, while building alternative platforms with little to no content moderation or concern for user safety. Rumble co-founder and CEO Chris Pavlovski has echoed that sentiment, promoting Rumble as an alternative (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/28/business/media/rumble-social-media-conservatives-videos.html?partner=slack&smid=sl-share) to Google-owned YouTube that is “immune from cancel culture.”

Rumble publishes a “Battle Leaderboard Top 50” on its platform, ranking top performing videos from the previous 24 hours or so and promoting them on a list that is prominently displayed (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4003248) in two different spots on its homepage. Media Matters found that Rumble promoted numerous videos from right-wing pundits and QAnon figures seemingly agitating for civil war on this leaderboard.

Right-wing pundits and QAnon figures pushing civil war rhetoric featured on Rumble’s leaderboard

Right-wing “Rumble Exclusive” show Redacted News did a livestream claiming that the country is “on Civil War watch” following Trump’s indictment. This video was ranked #8 (https://archive.ph/RAJeT) on Rumble’s leaderboard on March 21. Rumble, [3/20/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4003278)]

Conspiracy theorist Tim Pool (https://www.mediamatters.org/tim-pool)shared a video to Rumble claiming that civil war is “looming” following Trump’s indictment. This video was ranked #44 (https://archive.ph/aCnh9) on Rumble’s leaderboard on March 22. Rumble, [3/21/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4003276)]

Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk (https://www.mediamatters.org/charlie-kirk)held a special livestream on March 30 as reports of Trump’s indictment in New York emerged during which he called for retribution against his political opponents, who he claimed are “acting like Stalinists.” He added, “We must make them pay a price and a penalty” by indicting Democrats, claiming they “crossed the Rubicon” and have “declared quote-unquote the Roman Civil War.” This video was ranked #12 (https://archive.ph/5vegl) on Rumble’s leaderboard on March 31. Rumble, [3/30/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/charlie-kirk/charlie-kirks-conspiratorial-fearmongering-and-retaliatory-fantasies-reach-dangerous)]

The next day, Kirkdid another livestream and used a thumbnail image featuring the Roman army under Caesar fording the Rubicon river, reacting to Trump’s indictment. This video was ranked #15 (https://archive.ph/WdaLE) on Rumble’s leaderboard on April 1. Rumble, [3/31/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4003274)]

Extremist conspiracy theorist and QAnon sympathizer (https://www.mediamatters.org/moms-liberty/lara-logan-headlined-moms-liberty-event-and-spouted-unhinged-conspiracy-theories-45) Lara Logan (https://www.mediamatters.org/lara-logan) appeared as a guest on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast. When Bannon claimed that the “American version of the globalist elites have now gone to outright war with the populist nationalist movement,” Logan replied by saying that “this is almost the moment that we've been waiting for,” that “things are escalating,” that we’re “heading to a breaking point,” and that “we are going to see a fight to the death.” This video was ranked #39 (https://archive.ph/WdaLE) on Rumble’s leaderboard on April 1. Rumble, [3/31/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4003269)]

Fox News host and “Rumble Exclusive” creator Dan Bongino (https://www.mediamatters.org/dan-bongino)did a livestream during which he described Trump’s indictment as crossing a red line and warning, “Get out of blue states as soon as you can. … If they can do what they did up in New York to Trump last night, completely fabricate and bootstrap a crime out of nothing, to try to put a former president in handcuffs, to parade him like a banana republic in front of the camera, you think you have any rights? Get out as soon as you can.” This video was ranked #1 (https://archive.ph/WdaLE) on Rumble’s leaderboard on April 1. Rumble, [3/31/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4003272)]

QAnon influencer Juan O. Savin – who has previously (https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/qanon-influencer-involved-candidates-running-be-charge-elections-warns) threatened civil war – published a video on Rumble following Trump’s indictment titled “This Is A Battle To The Death” in which he and his guest agreed that “the American people and the world have woken up.” This video was ranked #26 (https://archive.ph/aXMfD) on Rumble’s leaderboard on April 2. Rumble, [4/1/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4003277)]

QAnon channel "And We Know" did a livestream warning about a “day of reckoning” following Trump’s indictment. This video was ranked #3 (https://archive.ph/WdaLE) on Rumble’s leaderboard on April 1. Rumble, [3/31/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4003273)]

“Rumble Exclusive” creator JP Sears shared a video questioning whether Trump’s indictment signaled “the end of our democracy.” This video was ranked #30 (https://archive.ph/WdaLE) on Rumble’s leaderboard on April 1. Rumble, [3/31/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4003270)]

Right-wing outlet LFA TV did a livestream claiming that “THEY WILL DESTROY OUR ENTIRE COUNTRY TO ‘GET TRUMP.’” This video was ranked #22 (https://archive.ph/WdaLE) on Rumble’s leaderboard on April 1. Rumble, [3/31/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4003267)]

QAnon influencerSGANON published a video claiming “WW3 Events Are Coming” following Trump’s indictment. This video was ranked #41 (https://archive.ph/WdaLE) on Rumble’s leaderboard on April 1. Rumble, [3/31/23 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4003266)]

https://www.mediamatters.org/rumble/rumble-profiting-ads-running-qanon-extremist-and-white-nationalist-channels

11 22

https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/report-rumble-wants-be-new-frontier-social-media-and-facebook-helping-it-get-there

juan savin qanon las vegas shooting fake 10 22 mma

America First SOS Coalition

Bongino, a Queens native, celebrated the victory by praising his followers on Parler for giving “a collective middle finger” to Twitter and the rest of Big Tech — a favorite foil. Then he resumed his usual posting: Dozens of links that drive either to his show or to stories aggregated by his website, BonginoReport.com, that he set up as an alternative to the popular Drudge Report, which Bongino has repeatedly said “sold us out” by catering too much to moderates and liberals and not enough to Trump’s base.

While the 45-year-old Bongino lacks the widespread clout of Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh, he has found a lucrative role to play in the increasingly segregated, angry internet, where different audiences rarely interact, or even see each other’s content.

Bongino’s popularity has surprised both Democratic and Republican operatives, who are not Bognino’s target audience and who, for the most part, do not listen to his show. For an hour each weekday, he rails against mask mandates, probes the latest news on Hunter Biden’s business dealings and, in recent days, offers highly dubious spins on alleged irregularities and unusual voting patterns in the 2020 election. On Facebook, he posts clips of himself in a T-shirt, recording the podcast and talking straight-to-camera, giving the posts a sense of intimacy.

[Wayne County, Mich.

2020 ELECTIONS In abrupt reversal, Michigan’s largest county certifies election results

BY KYLE CHENEY AND ZACH MONTELLARO]

Bongino said in an interview that, though he repeatedly highlights accounts of questionable votes and possible ballot harvesting, “I make very clear on the show, I’m not saying it’s fraud.” But he isn’t above raising questions about the vote for days on end — and there’s a booming market for such stories.

“People like the content on my Facebook page because it’s me — it’s my clips, from my show, that millions upon millions of people see,” Bongino said. “People find my stuff genuine and they share it. Why are we more popular than The New York Times and The Washington Post combined? Obviously people don’t like The New York Times’ content.”

Listeners don’t doubt that Bongino believes what he says, said Doug Stafford, former chief of staff for Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul who consulted for Bongino during his 2016 House race in Florida.

“He’s a good messenger,” said Stafford. “And it’s aprincipled message — it comes from a place of conviction.I think people hear that right away.”

A former New York City police officer, Bongino joined the Secret Service in 1999 and later served on protective duty for presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. In 2012, he started a series of three unsuccessful runs for office, first for the U.S. Senate in Maryland (where he won the Republican nomination but lost to Democrat Ben Cardin with only 26.6 percent of the vote), and then for a Maryland congressional seat (where he lost again, by a narrow margin of 1.5 percent).

[Dan Bongino during his 2012 Senate run in Maryland

In 2015, Bongino and his family moved to Florida, where he said he had a “non-emergency family situation,” but added, bluntly, “I enjoy politics and there are certainly opportunities down there.” He ran in a primary in a district near his home against Francis Rooney, a local businessman who self-funded his campaign with more than $3 million. At one point, a POLITICO reporter and Bongino got into a phone argument over Bongino’s criticism of a news report, and Bongino went on a minuteslong recorded tirade, before shouting, “Go fuck yourself, you piece of shit!” and hanging up the phone.

:{:{}:

Bongino lost again — but found a new niche. The shout-talking, Trump-loving ex-cop became a cable news guest perfectly suited for the Trump era, and he started appearing frequently. Soon he caught the attention of Trump himself, who started retweeting Bongino and praising him for his appearances.

Bongino landed a show on NRATV, the now-defunct digital streaming service affiliated with the pro-gun rights network, and made frequent guest appearances on Fox News, where he eventually became a contributor. He defended Trump-fueled conspiracies like Spygate, which contends the Obama administration embedded an informant on Trump’s 2016 campaign for political purposes, and which became the subject of Bongino’s 2018 book.

Trump himself has become a repeat guest on Bongino’s show, as have Trump allies like Rudy Giuliani.

There, Giuliani made claims last week that the voting software used in some states, Dominion Voting Systems, is owned by a foreign company that has ties to both Venezuelan leaders and Democratic billionaire George Soros and that “flipped” some votes.

:{:{}:

“We’re basically having our votes counted by Venezuelans who are close to [Nicolás] Maduro,” Giuliani told Bongino.

“That’s insane,” Bongino replied. (Dominion has said it has no ownership ties to the other company, and U.S. cybersecurity authorities from the Department of Homeland Security have said in a statement: “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”)

Bongino’s show is not the only conservative podcast to catch fire since the election: Other podcasts including The Mark Levin Show and The Ben Shapiro Show have also seen their audiences rise significantly, to top-10 slots on Apple’s charts in recent days, Vulture reported.

:{:{}:

“[Bongino’s] not an exception, he’s just the top of a larger trend,” said Angelo Carusone, president of the left-wing media watchdog group Media Matters for America.

Bongino has captured an audience online — boosted by his frequent appearances on Fox News — that is hungry for news of election fraud and a potential Trump victory, and the more engagement he gets, the more he’s rewarded by Facebook and other social media algorithms,Carusone said.

“Ultimately, it’s Facebook’s wave, and he’s just managing to stay above it,” Carusone said.

Indeed: Bongino’s posts were among the day’s 10 most-shared on Facebook at least 63 times in the past month, according to data collected by the analytics platform Crowdtangle and shared by The New York Times on Twitter.That’s more exposure than Trump, whose posts were ranked in the top 10 at least 31 times, and Fox News, who were top 10 at least 46 times.

Yet as Bongino’s show has grown in popularity, he is increasingly relying on websites and platforms he has an ownership stake in, giving him more control over his content and greater potential for profit.

:{:{}:

Late last year, he launched Bongino Report, his alternative to Drudge Report, and he routinely posts his links on social media to drive to the site. This summer, he announced he’d become an investor in Parler, the right-wing social media site pitching itself as an alternative to Twitter or Facebook that has become a safe harbor for banned figures like far-right commentator Alex Jones. Bongino has formed a similar partnership withRumble, a video platform trying to siphon traffic away from YouTube.

what exactly caused this?

an 1 22 no lnx twt

Befuddled conservatives react to Dan Bongino being banned from YouTube

Meaghan Ellis January 27, 2022

Befuddled conservatives are not pleased with YouTube's decision to permanently ban right-wing political commentator Dan Bongino from its platform. According to Newsweek, many of Bongino's conservative fans have taken to social media to express their disapproval of the video-sharing platform's decision to remove "The Dan Bongino Show."

"@YouTube banned @dbongino for speaking the truth! The problem is they just don't want you to hear it...... The End!" tweeted Graham Allen, a conservative U.S. army veteran who is currently running for a Congressional seat in South Carolina.

Brent Bozell,President of Media Research Center News Busters, also weighed in to suggest that Bongino's ban was biased. "Now YouTube has permanently banned Dan Bongino—one of the most popular conservative stars around. Yet, the news media still pretend there's no censorship of the right. Conservatives better wake up. The press never will," Bozell tweeted.

Bongino's ban follows a week-long suspension from YouTube earlier this month after he claimed in one of his videos that masks are "useless" in mitigating the spread of COVID-19. Trump enthusiasts Diamond and Silkalso chimed in with their disapproval of the ban tweeting, "YouTube bans Dan Bongino, but everyone who pushed Russia Collusion, which was a lie, still has their channels!"

Prior to his channel being banned, Bongino had nearly 900,000 subscribers. However, his Rumble account currently stands at 2 million. Now, conservative commentator Jeremy Frankel also tweeted to encourage Bongino's YouTube audience to follow him on Rumble as an alternative.

"YouTube's loss. At least now we all know it's the Communist echo chamber they always wanted to be but never could admit to being. Subscribe to @dbongino's Rumble channel: https://rumble.com/Bongino," conservative commentator Jeremy Frankel tweeted.

As the COVID-19 pandemic progressed, YouTube incorporated strict policies to combat the spread of misinformation on its platform. From conspiracy theories to misinformation about COVID-19, the vaccine, and the presidential election, YouTube has removed a number of accounts belonging to right-wing influencers contributing to the spread of harmful information.

Like most right-wing figures who have been kicked off mainstream social media platforms, Bongino will likely turn his focus toward alternative avenues to spread his message.

cf me on am vs fm radio

Biden and Trump Voters Were Exposed to Radically Different Coverage of the Capitol Riot on Facebook – The Markup

https://themarkup.org/citizen-browser/2021/01/14/biden-and-trump-voters-were-exposed-to-radically-different-coverage-of-the-capitol-riot-on-facebook

when rioters supporting President Donald Trump stormed the United States Capitol last week—bashing windows, attacking police, occupying the office of Nancy Pelosi—news coverage of the deadly event quickly started showing up in people’s social media feeds.

But people logging into Facebook weren’t all seeing the same stories. Some Facebook users with different political leanings saw the riot through very different lenses, according to data from The Markup’s Citizen Browser project, which tracks the links served to a nationwide panel of Facebook users.

By analyzing Facebook feed data from hundreds of the panelists in the project, The Markup found that panelists who voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 election were more frequently exposed to news stories from nonpartisan outlets directly covering the riot at the Capitol and the certification of Biden’s win, like The Washington Post and The New York Times, while our panelists who identified themselves as Trump voters in the 2020 election were more likely to be exposed to conservative news coverage, led by online outlets like The Daily Wire and Breitbart.

The two groups were exposed to barely any of the same news stories.

...

it should not be surprising that people with different partisan leanings saw different news sources on Facebook, just as they do with television, radio, and other forms of media,” Facebook spokesperson Kevin McAlister said in an emailed statement to The Markup. “However, we’ve made it clear to everyone at the top of Facebook and Instagram and through our Voting Information Center that President-Elect Joe Biden won the election.”

Although it’s hardly a secret that Facebook serves different news based on the different interests of its users, it’s rare to see data on the practice.

The Markup’s Citizen Browser project, an initiative looking at what content Facebook chooses to amplify to its users, has enlisted paid participants nationwide to install a custom tool that allows us access to their Facebook feeds. On any given day in December or January, an average of 775 panelists shared their Facebook data with us. We remove potential identifiers from the data we collect and analyze the remaining information about what content the panelists were exposed to.

To determine what sorts of news about the riot at the Capitol appeared on our panelists’ feeds from Jan. 5 through Jan. 8, 2021, we searched our Citizen Browser data for Facebook posts served to them using terms like “Capitol,” “protest,” “riot,” and “mob.” We discarded any posts that were ads or not related to the Capitol riot. We also discarded domains that only appeared in one panelist’s feed. After filtering those out, our data included Facebook posts served to 95 users who voted for Trump in the 2020 election and 348 who voted for Biden. These posts contained 747 unique links from 168 domains.

The sample size is small compared to the 196 million American and Canadian users on the platform, and our panel is short on Trump voters and Latinos. And while some posts we analyzed were served to as many as 30 users on our panel, many were served to one or two panelists.

But the data provides a snapshot into a split ecosystem, where users are often served different news depending on their partisan preferences and rarely have a chance to see the differences.

The news landscape our Facebook panelists encountered was deeply polarized. In all, of the hundreds of riot-related links we analyzed, only 5 percent of the links (35) were in common among our panelists. One such crossover link was a New York Post story about the fatal police shooting of Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt.

:{:{}:

Only 5 percent of links appeared in feeds of both panelists who voted for Biden and those who voted for Trump

[grfx]

The Facebook feeds of self-identified Biden voters in our panel contained links from The New York Times and NPR about Congress approving Biden’s win, served to panelists a combined 29 times, or a Washington Post article examining the bungled law enforcement response, which was served to nine panelists. Coverage from CBS News, served to seven Biden voter panelists, but only one Trump voter, was about a West Virginia lawmaker who had posted a video of himself storming the Capitol shouting, “We’re in!”

The links most frequently shown to Biden voters were sometimes posted directly by the news outlets who published them, but their spread was also fueled by partisan Facebook pages like “Trump Sucks,” which has more than 800,000 followers, or by the even more popular “Occupy Democrats,” which boasts more than 10 million followers.

But for our Trump-voting panelists, coverage of the event came more frequently through conservative outlets, and popular links often homed in on the political and media response to the riot....

our panelists were served articles from The Daily Wire, for example, focused on remarks from Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer, who described the riot as, respectively, an “insurrection” and the cause of a day that will now live in “infamy,” drawing a parallel to Pearl Harbor.A Breitbartarticle focused on Michelle Obama, who called the riot the act of a violent “gang.” Two or three panelists in our sample of Trump voters were served each of those links.

Another Daily Wire article,served to another four of our Trump-voting panelists, focused on the defection of Republican senator Kelly Loeffler, who stepped away from a plan to object to the certification of Biden’s win.

In the Capitol-riot-related posts on our panelists’ feeds, we saw at least one clear instance of outright misinformation: a viral story from the conservative Washington Times claiming that pro-Trump rioters were identified as members of antifa through facial recognition. The article, which has since been corrected, was served to four Trump voters in our sample, putting it among the most seen links in that group.

Mainstream media’s coverage of the riot also became a target for stories from conservative media that made their way onto our panelists’ feeds. One article from The Federalist seized on the news to list “28 times media and Democrats excused or endorsed violence committed by left-wing activists.” An article from the Daily Caller showed a Fox News host bemoaning media coverage of the riot and claiming the left had tried to “pick and choose their favorite protestors.” Some links that appeared on our Biden voter feeds focused specifically on right-wing coverage of the riot.

“We have very little purview into what’s happening on these platforms, who’s seeing what,” said Jennifer Grygiel, an assistant professor of communications at Syracuse University with a focus on social media platforms. “And that’s a problem.”

Facebook users weren’t just shown different articles but also ones from largely different sources

Top news sources seen on Citizen Browser panelists’ Facebook feeds

Sources served to Biden voters

Sources include, in order of frequency: The Washington Post, CNN, Yahoo News, NPR, New York Times, and NBC News.

Bigger logo = more frequently served on feeds

Sources served to Trump voters

Sources include, in order of frequency: The Daily Wire, Fox News, Rumble, YouTube, NBC News and Breitbart.

Graphic showing the different sources of articles seen by Biden and Trump voters in their feeds, with larger circles representing more feeds shown.

Circles are scaled proportionally based on the relative number of Biden and Trump voters. Source: Citizen Browser/The Markup. Complete data available on GitHub.

Our analysis can’t say exactly why any link was especially popular among our panelists, but it’s clear from Facebook comments that many readers were drawn to certain articles because they stirred partisan tensions.

Some of the stories that appeared in our Trump voters’ feeds received thousands of comments.

The top Facebook comment on the story about Loeffler, a post from the conservative Daily Wire put on Facebook under the page of site founder Ben Shapiro, called her change in stance “a disappointment.” The top response to another Daily Wire article, about Republican representative Adam Kinzinger calling for Trump’s immediate removal from office, suggested Republicans wanted to remove Trump “because he can declassify what they don’t want us to see.”

By contrast, a top Facebook comment on a CNN article about the resignation of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, posted by the page Being Liberal, offered a cheeky send-off: “Bye bye Betsy!”

While the Daily Wire was a popular source for our Trump voter panelists, we found only one Biden-voting panelist in our data whose feed contained a link for a Daily Wire story, an article about Trump making a statement that he was “outraged by the violence.”

News coverage of Trump’s own words also diverged depending on a panelist’s political leanings. In the Trump voter sample, one article that appeared on the feeds of two panelists was a Fox News piece that focused on a Trump video statement condemning the “heinous attack” on the Capitol, which came after his earlier encouragement of the gathering. The article was served to one Biden panelist.

Ten Biden voter panelists, in comparison, were served an NBC News article that focused more directly on the violence and Trump’s role in inciting the attack, pointing out he had told his supporters earlier that “we will never concede.”

wiki 8 23

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumble_(company) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumble_%28company%29)

rumble is an online video platform (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_video_platform), web hosting (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_hosting) and cloud services (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_service) business\2]\3] headquartered in Toronto, Ontario (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto,Ontario), with its U.S. headquarters in Longboat Key, Florida (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longboat_Key,Florida).\4]\5] It was founded in October 2013 by Chris Pavlovski, a Canadian technology entrepreneur.[6] The cloud services business hosts [Truth Social (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_Social), and the video platform is popular among [American right (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism_in_the_United_States) and [far-right (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far-right) users.[7] The platform has been described as "[alt-tech (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt-tech)".[5]

History

Rumble was founded in late 2013 by Chris Pavlovski as an alternative to YouTube (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube) for independent content creators.\8] Pavlovski founded the platform after seeing that Google (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google) was prioritizing influencers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_celebrity) on YouTube and not small content creators.\9] In its early years, content on Rumble largely consisted of [viral videos (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_video) and news from mainstream media sources as well as videos of children and animals. The platform received a large influx of viewership beginning during the [COVID-19 pandemic (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic), with monthly visitors rising from 1.6 million in 2020 to 31.9 million by 2021.[] In the first nine months of 2021, Rumble generated more than $6.5 million in revenue, mostly from advertisements, but was not profitable.[10]

Rise of viewership in 2020 has been attributed to Representative Devin Nunes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devin_Nunes), who accused YouTube of overly censoring his channel. Nunes began posting content on the platform with other prominent conservatives, such as Dinesh D'Souza (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinesh_D%27Souza), Dan Bongino (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Bongino), Sean Hannity (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Hannity), and Representative Jim Jordan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jordan_%28American_politician%29), following soon after.\6][11][12] On January 11, 2021, Rumble filed an [antitrust (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competition_law) lawsuit against Google over its search results, seeking damages exceeding $2 billion.[13][14] Rumble alleged that Google manipulates its algorithm so as to favor Google's YouTube over Rumble in Google search results. It also alleges that this reduces its viewership and results in lower advertising revenues.[15] As of August 2022, the case was ongoing.[16]

Rumble received investment from venture capitalists Peter Thiel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel) and J. D. Vance (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.D.Vance) in May 2021, with that round of funding valuing Rumble at around $500 million.\17] A month later, US President (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_President) Donald Trump (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump) joined Rumble in preparation for recording his Ohio campaign rally.\18] In October 2021, Rumble acquired Locals (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locals).\19] On December 14, 2021, [Trump Media & Technology Group (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_Media%26_Technology_Group) (TMTG) announced that it entered a "wide-ranging technology and cloud services agreement" with Rumble in a statement which also stated that Rumble would operate part of [Truth Social (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_Social) as well as TMTG.[20] Also in December 2021, Rumble challenged a [New York (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York%28state%29) law prohibiting hate speech on social media.[21]

In August 2022, Rumble announced plans to provide an online advertising (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_advertising) platform known as Rumble Ads, with Truth Social as its first publisher.\22][23] Rumble became a publicly traded company in September 2022, trading on NASDAQ, after merging with a [special-purpose acquisition company (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special-purpose_acquisition_company).[24]

In May 2023, Rumble acquired the podcasting platform CallIn.[25]

Design and restrictions

Rumble promotes itself as being "immune to cancel culture (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancel_culture)".\26] Along with four other tabs in its main interface, Rumble features "recommended channels" to follow and an "Earnings" tab in its interface.\27] Rumble also allows its users to generate revenue from their videos.[27] Users upload videos that are licensed to Rumble's partners, such as [Yahoo! (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo!) and [Microsoft News (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_News), after which money made from those videos is directly deposited into the Rumble account of the user.[27]

According to the platform's terms and conditions (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terms_and_conditions), Rumble forbids pornography (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornography), harassment (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_harassment), racism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism), antisemitism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitism), and copyright infringement.\28] The platform also prohibits illegal content.[6][29][30][31][32] Rumble's policies have drawn criticism from [alt-tech (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt-tech) platforms for not allowing anti-semitism and racism.[33][12] Since November 2022, Rumble is blocked in France, after they refused to comply with the country's demand for the site to remove Russian state media accounts.[34]

Rumble has built its own cloud service infrastructure (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing) and video streaming (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_streaming) capacity.[10]

Users and content

Rumble's video platform is popular among conservatives (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism_in_the_United_States)\17]\35][36] and [far-right (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far-right_politics) users[37][38][7] and has been described as part of "[alt-tech (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt-tech)" by various observers.[39][40][41][42]

Using data from February 2021, researchers noted that several content creators have gained a receptive audience on Rumble after their productions have been pulled from YouTube or Facebook (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook). They include Del Bigtree (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Del_Bigtree), Sherri Tenpenny (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherri_Tenpenny), and Simone Gold (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simone_Gold).\43]\44]\45] According to a June 2021 article from Slate (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slate%28magazine%29), "Pavlovski has recently become more outspoken in accusing Big Tech of censorship and now actively courts prominent conservatives andintellectual dark web (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_dark_web)figures to join Rumble."\12] It also hosts Truth Social (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_Social).[46] In August 2021, Rumble reached agreements with former [Democratic (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party%28United_States%29) Representative [Tulsi Gabbard (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsi_Gabbard) and [The Intercept (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Intercept) founder [Glenn Greenwald (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Greenwald) to start posting their videos to the site.[47]

As of August 15, 2022, Rumble reported 78 million monthly active users (MAU).\48] That month, after being banned from most other platforms for hate speech and harmful conduct, kickboxer and social media personality [Andrew Tate (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Tate) began posting on Rumble. Tate's move coincided with a significant increase in downloads of the Rumble app.[49][50]

According to an August 2022 Reuters article, Rumble is a better-funded and more mainstream direct competitor to video-hosting site BitChute (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitChute) and Odysee (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LBRY), as all three include misinformation and conspiracy theories, with Rumble moderating more content.[51] Unlike BitChute and Odysee, Rumble does suppress results when searching for some keywords associated with hate speech or extremism, although the content itself is still accessible.[52][51]

According to a May 2022 Pew Research Center (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pew_Research_Center) study, 20 percent of American adults have heard of Rumble, while only 2 percent regularly get their news from Rumble. Of the 2 percent, 76 percent identify as Republicans or are Republican-leaning, while only 22 percent identify as Democrats or are Democratic-leaning. Most consumers of news from Rumble report positive experiences from their use of Rumble. Most of Rumble's 200 most prominent accounts are run by individuals, 22 percent of whom have been banned from other social media platforms. However, 55 percent of these prominent accounts have accounts on other websites, with most of these accounts being on more established social media platforms, such as YouTube. A previous June 2022 review of posts from Rumble's 200 most prominent accounts found that 49 percent had posted about guns or gun rights, 48 percent had posted about abortion, 44 percent had posted about LGBT topics, 42 percent had posted about the January 6 Capitol attack, and 26 percent had posted about vaccines.[53]