The cleaving of Big Tech continues, only this time the move of company headquarters by the Rumble video hosting service appears to be a proactive move to avoid government intervention and regulations requiring platform providers to censor speech.  Rumble is moving from Toronto, Canada to Sarasota, Florida.

As noted by Glenn Greenwald, “Canada is actively creating laws to impose civil or even criminal liability on social media platforms that don’t censor enough,” as a result, any content platform provider could be subject to civil or criminal liability if they do not filter content based on ideological demands of the government.

Canada and the EU are both working on laws that will define acceptable speech and the various platform hosts who give a place for online content will be held accountable.  The goal of the left-wing ideology is to censor speech they view as against their interests (ex: COVID vaccination etc).  Not accidentally, this same framework to stop speech has now moved to the U.S. congress as ideological activists are creating the background for U.S. regulations.  That’s the motive behind Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen {Go Deep} who has testified and advocated for controls over speech in the U.S. and U.K (link).

This regulatory push to make tech platform providers like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and now alternative venues like Rumble, Telegram, Locals, Substack, etc subject to regulations, civil and criminal punishments by bureaucratic government panels, is actually the reason why CEO Mark Zuckerberg changed the company structure of Facebook.

The creation of “Meta” as the parent company of Facebook was fundamentally a risk management strategy, limiting liability, more than anything else.

Just like the example of the Exxon Valdez oil spill changing the corporate structure for oil companies, limiting liability by removing Exxon tanker ships from the larger parent company, and using leased contracts under subsidiary names, so too does Facebook limit their liabilities by isolating each platform division away from the company’s top line revenue.

Big Tech was/is colluding with  their government allies and censoring content on their platforms based on ideology.  However, with various alternatives now surfacing as a result of a massive purge by Big Tech, the need for government intervention to continue the censorship has become paramount.  Canada and the EU are both working on regulations to fulfill this objective.  The owners of Rumble are smart to make a proactive move away from those regulations.

(Herald-Tribune)  Toronto-based video platform Rumble, which is popular among conservative viewers, will establish its U.S. headquarters on Longboat Key.

The platform provides video creators a way to host, manage, distribute and create feeds and monetize their content, according to Rumble’s website. Rumble has signed a lease for a property on Longboat Key, according to a press release announcing the move.

A representative of the Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County said at a County Commission meeting last week that a Canadian company was coming to Longboat Key, but the EDC did not reveal the name of the company until now.

“Moving to Longboat Key is a win-win for Rumble and the Sarasota community,” Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski said in the press release. “Sarasota County is growing rapidly, and we are excited to be part of the growth. We plan to fill 20-25 new positions in Florida immediately for our U.S. headquarters, with many more planned for the future. This move positions us to continue providing a platform to content creators without the threats from big tech monopolies. We are excited to invest in Florida in the coming years while we continue to grow Rumble.” (read more)

In the background of all internet communication, this discussion has been happening for years.  CTH has been active inside this conversation since our own deplatforming from WP/Automattic in 2020.

Creating communication systems, including the myriad of website systems, that are not subject to the ideological whims of internet tech companies is not an easy accomplishment.  However, it is getting better as more systems and platform providers are quickly coming online.  Oddly enough, there is a strong army of people who create the tech systems, the actual coders and design architects, who are independent and do not agree with the totalitarian outlooks of the Big Tech conglomerate.

Starting from a decade long deficit, the “Rebel Alliance” has made great strides in creating systems and tech infrastructure to remove the tentacles of Big Tech.

Servers and internet systems are now rapidly organizing to host content providers without fear of removal; however, there is still a long way to go.