Controversial platform accused of promoting extremism to livestream next GOP debate

Controversial platform accused of promoting extremism to livestream next GOP debate

In less than two weeks, GOP candidates vying for president will take the stage for the next Republican debate. Though NBC News will be hosting, the debate is also set to livestream exclusively on the controversial video sharing platform Rumble.

Rumble has been accused of promoting extremism, misogyny and false conspiracy theories.

The right-wing video sharing platform will not only work in partnership with NBC News, but Salem Radio Network, an outlet similarly accused of platforming extremist rhetoric. The debate will be co-sponsored with the Republican Jewish Coalition.

An assessment of Rumble published by the Guardian Tuesday revealed that there are numerous accounts on the platform posting content related to Holocaust denial and pro-Nazi and Hitler content.

The platform rarely bans creators of content found to be abusive, inciting violence, harassing, harmful, hateful, antisemitic, racist or threatening. Whereas, YouTube, the largest video platform, has done so at times.

In 2022, YouTube banned Andrew Tate, a misogynistic influencer, from the site for violating their hate speech policy, among others. Tate was also banned from Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

Creators who have been barred from other platforms include Nick Fuentes as well as Russell Brand, who last month was accused of rape, sexual assault and sexual harrassment, have used the site to promote their content, the outlet found.

Other controversial figures have used the platform to elevate their content, including Alex Jones, whose widely-spread conspiracy theories that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax ultimately led to a lawsuit in which he must pay victim families $1.1 billion.

The platform has also become a home to content creators looking to spread conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 vaccine. In 2022, Rumble premiered a documentary titled “Died Suddenly,” which wrongfully asserted that mRNA vaccines were causing people to die after they’d developed blood clots.

Rumble did not broadly respond to its decisions to continue hosting the content creators on their platform.

The debate, scheduled to be held on Nov. 8, will be shown on the site’s homepage and on the Republican National Committee’s account.