DATA: “Ideologically-Neutral” Free Speech Site Rumble Sees Massive Growth “Primarily from Consumers of News And Political Content”

Rumble, which is considered to be conservative competitor of Google’s YouTube, celebrated a new milestone recently, announcing that the video-hosting website had achieved a new high of 78 million monthly active users (MAUs) in August 2022.

That 78 million MAU count represents a whopping 77 percent increase over the same period of time one year prior. In addition, Rumble also reported that the two countries that generate the most traffic to the site – the United States and Canada – also set a record of 63 million MAUs in August, a 103 percent year-over-year jump mostly made up of individuals in the 18-24 year-old age range.

Originally founded in 2013 and currently the largest and most well-funded mainstream conservative video platforms, Rumble is successful, according to founder and CEO Chris Pavlovski, because it allows all manner of content in order to allow users “to make up their own minds after hearing all sides.”

“When you look at the data, and especially our 63 million MAUs in the U.S. and Canada, it is clear to me that Rumble’s growth is one of the reasons that Big Tech platforms have stagnated,” Pavlovski said. “In recent years, our user growth came primarily from consumers of news and political content. As new content creators come to Rumble, we are seeing growth from the Gen Z demographic, a massive new audience for our platform.”

Rumble has gained popularity in recent years with free speech advocates, as the platform’s content moderation policies are far less restrictive than YouTube’s, which has had claims of censorship and information suppression frequently levied against it. However, the drawback to Rumble’s freer environment, some critics allege, is that it sometimes allows content purportedly consisting of “conspiracies, racism and graphic violence” that leak in. However, Rumble’s content moderation is nonetheless far stricter than competing “alt-right” platforms such as Odysee and BitChute.

While Rumble is indeed posting some very impressive – and climbing – numbers, they are still dwarfed by Google’s YouTube, which currently boasts 2.6 billion monthly users.