Not required to watch most videos; required for certain tasks such as uploading videos, creating playlists, liking or disliking videos, posting comments, or making purchases
Rumble was founded on October 30, 2013, by Chris Pavlovski as an alternative toYouTube for independentvloggers and smaller content creators.[1][10] Pavlovski founded the platform after seeing thatGoogle was prioritizinginfluencers on YouTube and not independent content creators.[11] In its early years, Rumble saw only limited popularity. The platform received a large influx of viewership from 2020, at the start of theCOVID-19 pandemic. Monthly visitors rose from 1.6 million in 2020, to 31.9 million by 2021.[12] In the first nine months of 2021, Rumble generated more than $6.5 million in revenue, mostly from advertisements; however, it was not profitable.[13]
The rise in Rumble viewership in 2020 was attributed toRepublican politicianDevin Nunes, who accused YouTube of overly censoring his channel. Nunes began posting content on Rumble, with other prominent conservatives, such asDinesh D'Souza,Dan Bongino,Sean Hannity, and RepresentativeJim Jordan, following soon after.[10][14][15] In June 2021, former US presidentDonald Trump joined Rumble in preparation for recording hisOhio campaign rally.[16]
On January 11, 2021, Rumble filed anantitrust lawsuit against Google over its search algorithms, seeking damages exceeding $2 billion.[17][18] Rumble alleged that Google manipulated its algorithm so as to favor Google's own YouTube over Rumble in Google search results. Rumble alleged that this direct manipulation reduced its viewership and resulted in lower advertising revenues for their company.[19] In August 2022, a California judge said that Rumble's case against Google can proceed.[20]
Rumble received investment from venture capitalistsPeter Thiel,Vivek Ramaswamy andJD Vance in May 2021, with that round of funding valuing Rumble at around $500 million.[21] In October 2021, Rumble acquiredLocals.[22] On December 14, 2021,Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) announced that it entered a "wide-ranging technology and cloud services agreement" with Rumble in a statement that also stated that Rumble would operate part ofTruth Social as well as TMTG.[23] Also in December 2021, Rumble challenged a New York law prohibiting hate speech on social media.[24]
In August 2022, Rumble announced plans to provide anonline advertising platform known as Rumble Ads, with Truth Social as its first publisher.[25][26] Rumble became a publicly traded company in September 2022, trading under ticker RUM on theNasdaq, after merging with aspecial-purpose acquisition company.[27] In May 2023, Rumble acquired the podcasting platform CallIn.[28]
In 2024, theU.S. Securities and Exchange Commission confirmed that Rumble was under an active investigation, the exact nature of which is unknown.[30] However, Pavlovski stated in January "short-lived investigation was part of a coordinated ploy by short sellers manipulating the market." The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission cleared Rumble from the investigation.[31]
In November 2024, creator Guy "Dr Disrespect" Beahm signed a deal to produce both free and exclusive content on the platform and head Rumble gaming's division. The deal included equity in the company for Beahm.[32]
Pavlovski became a billionaire in January 2025 after Rumble's stock increased in price by nearly 190 percent in 2024.[33][34]
Along with four other tabs in its main interface, Rumble features "recommended channels" to follow and an "Earnings" tab in its interface.[35] Rumble also allows its users to generate revenue from their videos.[35] Users upload videos that are licensed to Rumble's partners, such asYahoo! andMicrosoft News, after which money made from those videos is directly deposited into the Rumble account of the user.[35]
Using data from February 2021, researchers noted that several content creators have gained a receptive audience on Rumble after their content was pulled from YouTube orFacebook. They includeDel Bigtree,Sherri Tenpenny, andSimone Gold.[51][52][53] According to a June 2021 article fromSlate, "Pavlovski has recently become more outspoken in accusing Big Tech of censorship and now actively courts prominent conservatives andintellectual dark web figures to join Rumble."[42] It also hostedTruth Social as of June 2022.[54] In August 2021, Rumble reached agreements with formerDemocratic RepresentativeTulsi Gabbard andThe Intercept founderGlenn Greenwald to start posting their videos to the site.[55]
As of August 15, 2022, Rumble reported 78 million monthly active users (MAU).[56] That month, after being banned from most other platforms for hate speech and harmful conduct, kickboxer and social media personalityAndrew Tate began posting on Rumble. Tate's move coincided with a significant increase in downloads of the Rumble app.[57][58]
According to an August 2022Reuters article, Rumble is 'better-funded' and 'more mainstream' than its competitorsBitChute andOdysee. Reuters states that all three platforms 'include misinformation and conspiracy theories', with Rumble 'moderating more content' than the other two.[59] Unlike BitChute and Odysee, Rumble does suppress results when searching for some keywords associated with hate speech or extremism; however, the content itself is still accessible.[59][60]
According to a May 2022Pew Research Center study, 20% of American adults have heard of Rumble, while 2% regularly got their news from Rumble. Of regular users, 76% identified as Republicans or were Republican-leaning, while 22% identified as Democrats or were Democratic-leaning. Around 90% of Rumble users believed news hosted on the site was mostly accurate. Most of Rumble's 200 most prominent accounts at that time were run by individuals, 22% of whom had been banned from other social media platforms. 55% of these prominent accounts also had accounts on other websites such as YouTube. A June 2022 review of posts by Pew Research from Rumble's 200 most prominent accounts found that 49% had posted about guns or gun rights, 48% had posted about abortion, 44% had posted about LGBTQ topics (specifically theLGBTQ grooming conspiracy theory), 42% had posted about theJanuary 6 Capitol attack, and 26% had posted about extremevaccine skepticism.[61][62]
Following the 2022Russian invasion of Ukraine, Rumble did not follow other social media platforms in banning Russian state media from their site. In November 2022, Rumble was blocked in France, after their refusal to comply with the country's demand for the removal of Russian state media accounts.[48][63] In May 2024, Rumble was blocked in Russia for not complying with the Russian government's demand to remove content.[citation needed]
Rumble removed access to its platform in Brazil in 2023 due to legal orders from the country to suspend the accounts of some content creators. It went back online in Brazil in early 2025, citing the country's move to "rescind their censorship order on Rumble."[65] On February 19, 2025, Rumble joined a lawsuit against Brazil'sSupreme Federal Court justiceAlexandre de Moraes for a claim of illegally censoring right-wing media on social media.[66] On February 21, 2025, Moraes ordered the suspension of Rumble for intentionally refusing to comply with court orders, including refusing to remove the account of Brazilian fugitiveAllan dos Santos.[67]
^Howell, Tom (February 21, 2024)."SEC clears Rumble after reports of investigation".The Washington Times.the short-lived investigation was part of a coordinated ploy by short sellers manipulating the market.
US$95.5 million (2024)[6]