Video platform Rumble has taken yet another step toward forming a censorship-free digital economy, one where Big Tech monopolies cannot deplatform apps based on their political views.
Rumble announced Tuesday a “strategic collaboration” with TRON DAO, a decentralized blockchain entity, partly to challenge the censorship of Big Tech on app stores. This partnership gives TRON access to Rumble Cloud, a platform designed to shield organizations from censorship and Big Tech overreach. It could help pro-free speech companies avoid sudden blacklisting by Big Tech companies like Google and Apple—both of which have repeatedly deplatformed apps like Parler and PragerU.
“By leveraging cloud infrastructure through Rumble Cloud, organizations can reduce single points of failure, improve censorship resistance, and ensure the network maintains its decentralized nature while benefiting from enterprise-grade storage reliability,” Rumble wrote in a press statement.
Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski echoed this sentiment, declaring: “Blockchain and cryptocurrency represent the decentralized internet that promises the freedom to be innovative, and that is exactly compatible with Rumble’s mission to promote and protect free expression.”
The collaboration between Rumble and TRON seems to arise from suggestions that one solution to cancel culture is creating a "parallel economy," where the left holds no power or influence. Companies such as PublicSquare, Ultra Right Beer, Patriot Mobile and Rumble serve as examples of this concept.
Donald Trump Jr: "The parallel economy is real. People … are sick of using their hard earned dollars only to have it thrown back in their face." pic.twitter.com/0AeUOlEIg5
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) November 7, 2023
There’s good reason to express concern about the anti-free speech monopoly that Big Tech companies hold. In January 2021, both Google and Apple banned the social media app Parler, claiming that Parler had somehow fueled the unrest at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Apple didn’t reinstate Parler until April 2021 after the app made changes, while Google waited until September 2022 to do the same.
However, Parler is not the only app to face such treatment, as documented in MRC Free Speech America’s unique CensorTrack database.
In December 2024, Google booted right-leaning educational app PragerU from its Play Store for the second time. Back in 2022, Google also temporarily removed satire site The Babylon Bee’s app from its store for reasons that remain unclear. Additionally, in 2020, Google’s Play Store suspended YouTube alternative LBRY, over a sexualized comedic film that was still available on Netflix, which Google did not suspend from its app store.
Free speech is under attack! Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech and government be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
