This latest free speech victory could have huge implications for the future of European Union censorship in France.
Rumble announced its return to France in a Tuesday press release, writing that a French court had ruled that an email from a French cabinet official could not compel a social media platform to censor.
The press release stated, “In 2022, a French government official emailed Rumble to demand the removal of certain content on the platform or face legal action. Rather than censor content, Rumble blocked access to its platform in France. As a result of this ruling, Rumble is now restoring access to users in France.”
Even among EU countries, France is infamous for anti-free speech actions. It has relentlessly harassed X CEO Elon Musk ever since he unraveled some of the anti-free speech policies of old Twitter. France was exposed on Sept. 3 for a successful drive to push Musk’s predecessor, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, to crack down on so-called hate speech.
Additionally, France arrested Telegram CEO and Founder Pavel Durov. France also dictated which countries he could visit before trial and even pressured him to interfere in Romanian elections during this period. And EU Commissioner Thierry Breton, nominated to his post by France, has outrageously sought to censor Americans on American soil. Breton even attempted to dictate what now-President Donald Trump and Musk could say in a 2024 interview on X.
Despite its eagerness to silence dissent, France's censorship efforts collapsed in the Rumble case. "Free speech wins, Rumble is going global!” Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski wrote on X. Durov responded with the Roman line: "Strength and honor."
This recent ruling could have major implications for the enforcement of the EU's Digital Services Act in France. However, if the court's decision is limited to emails from cabinet officials, the threat to freedom of speech in France and across the EU remains serious.
Just recently, Rumble's competitor, Google, announced that in 2024, France made 827 demands for censorship. Some of these requests were described using vague terms like "national security." However, 59 of the demands specifically targeted "hate speech," while four others were made without any stated reason.
France also hit Instagram with 104 out of 282 of the total takedown requests from all EU states between April and the end of September 2024. Additionally, France accounted for a quarter of all EU censorship requests for Instagram from October to the end of December 2024. Overall, from April to December 2024, France ordered Instagram and Facebook to censor content a total of 352 times.
If the DSA continues to be wielded against American platforms in this way, it is only a matter of time until Rumble falls afoul of the eager censors of the EU and its worst member states.
MRC Free Speech America has reached out to Rumble.
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