Rumble, the conservative alternative to YouTube, is no longer available in Brazil due to the censorship attempt by the Supreme Federal Court (STF), which sought to eliminate the channels of several content creators.
The CEO of the platform, Chris Pavlovsky, said that Rumble is a platform that defends freedom of expression against Big Tech.
“Recently, the Brazilian courts demanded that we remove certain creators from Rumble. As part of our mission to restore a free and open internet, we have committed not to move the goalposts on our content policies,” Pavlovski wrote. “Users with unpopular views are free to access our platform on the same terms as our millions of other users. Accordingly, we have decided to disable access to Rumble for users in Brazil while we challenge the legality of the Brazilian courts’ demands.”
“We are disappointed by the court decisions that have caused the Brazilian people to lose the ability to view a wide range of Rumble content,” he added. “This action will not have a material effect on our business, but we hope the Brazilian courts reconsider their decisions so we can restore service soon.”
I will not be bullied by foreign government demands to censor Rumble creators.
My statement on turning off Brazil. pic.twitter.com/gyxGllrFuL
— Chris Pavlovski (@chrispavlovski) December 22, 2023
Although the case was not mentioned directly in the statement, Rumble’s decision comes after the minister Alexandre de Moraes, from the SFT, ordered the blocking of channels and accounts associated with Bruno Monteiro Aiub, better known as Monark, a Brazilian influencer and podcaster who has been canceled from the Internet by the Brazilian state.
Rumble initially refused to comply with court orders but was given a daily fine until he canceled Monteiro. Finally, he decided to leave Brazil when he could not meet his founding objectives related to freedom of expression.
