This week, video platform Rumble chose free speech over funds, leaving France after the government demanded that the platform increase censorship.
The Ron Paul Institute’s Daniel McAdams reported Wednesday, “Faced with French Government demands that free-speech video platform Rumble censor Russian news channels, the company’s CEO simply said ‘no.’ No more Rumble for France. It’s a brave example of how to resist ‘cancel culture.’”
As noted above, the big target of the French government was Russian state media on Rumble. I think Russia is totally in the wrong in its continuing and destructive invasion of Ukraine, but the problem with censorship is that it never stops with the foreign enemy (and France isn’t officially at war with Russia anyway). Rumble probably saw warning signals.
Anyone can be labeled “dangerous” by modern authoritarians. In America, a Homeland Security Department (DHS) National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin in February claimed that “false or misleading narratives and conspiracy theories, and other forms of mis- dis- and mal-information“ contribute to a “heightened threat environment.”
If the U.S. is basically calling critiques of the government terrorism, why shouldn’t France go down the same road? After all, French President Emmanuel Macron previously said that anyone refusing the COVID-19 vaccines was “not a citizen.”
Rumble is probably wise to get out of France at the initial demand of censorship.