White nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes claimed that Rumble removed two videos of his July 16 antisemitic rally and suspended him from streaming on the platform for two weeks because it considered his “holy war” rhetoric an “incitement to violence.” In response, Fuentes’ supporters (known as “groypers”) and other far-right figures painted him as a victim of social media censorship and attacked Rumble for caving to “radical left wing activists” and being a “fraud” for reneging on its free speech promises.

Since its founding in 2013, Rumble has presented itself as an “unshackled” alternative to mainstream social media companies that right-wing media and figures have falsely claimed are biased against them, with CEO Chris Pavlovski painting the site as an alternative to YouTube that’s “immune from cancel culture.” But the platform does have some content moderation policies, including against “racism, antisemitism and hatred,” as well as against content that “promotes, supports, or incites violence.” While videos featuring antisemitism, right-wing conspiracy theories, and unhinged bigotry have gone largely unchecked, there have been a few instances in which Rumble has removed videos that violate these policies. 

After Rumble allegedly removed his videos and suspended him from streaming, Fuentes urged his supporters to post “#RUMBLECENSORED” and to “get it going on Twitter.” Fuentes also called out Twitter owner Elon Musk, claiming that “elon leaned on Rumble'' (he is seemingly referring to Musk replying to right-wing commentator Ian Miles Cheong’s tweet). He also instructed his supporters to “ratio” an old tweet from Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski, in which he claimed that Rumble will “hold the line” against supposed “censorship.” Fuentes’ supporters and other far-right figures were quick to respond. 

Attacking Rumble for presenting itself as a free speech platform: 

• CEO of far-right platform Gab and overt antisemite Andrew Torba tweeted many times about the situation, attacking Rumble and using the situation to bolster his own platform. He commented, “No other platform has come even remotely close to going through what Gab has gone through to defend free speech online” and said that “THEY tried to buy me out multiple times over the past seven years in order to control Gab.” [Twitter, 7/19/23, 7/19/23, 7/19/23] 
• Michael Swartz, founder of the Barstool Sports subsidiary Old Row (who goes by Swig online), tweeted: He also tweeted, “Rumble is censoring videos? Their whole selling point was that they won’t censor videos,” and in another post commented on the “slippery slope of censorship” saying that Rumble should “take note.” [Twitter, 7/18/23, 7/19/23]
• Failed senate candidate and host for the Stew Peters Network Lauren Witzke used the #RUMBLECENSORED hashtag and commented: “I think it’s the beginning of the end for for ALL OF US on Rumble. #RUMBLECENSORED Nick Fuentes for reading the Talmud (their own literature) in a speech.” [Twitter, 7/18/23] 
• Misogynist streamer Jon Zherka defended Fuentes and attacked Rumble saying: “Rumble could not find someone to beat Nick’s argument’s so they censor him? Yikes for free speech cope.” He also said that “the only free speech left on earth is enshrined within the pure soul of Nick.” [Twitter, 7/19/23, 7/19/23] 
• Fuentes follower and streamer Matt Evans shared the same tweet from Pavlovski commenting that it “aged like milk.” He also defended Nick, saying that Rumble removed his video “to try and take him down because they realize if Nick wins, their dystopian vision for the future will never come to fruition.” [Twitter, 7/19/23, 7/19/23] 
• Fuentes follower and streamer Chief Trumpster also shared Pavlovski’s tweet, saying: “You have censored the #FUENTESRALLY. You are no different than YouTube. Free Nick.” [Twitter, 7/18/23] 
• An account dedicated to sharing updates about extreme edgelord streamer Leafy called Leafy Headquarters said the people running Rumble “are frauds”: “Rumble OFFICIALLY just took down the Nick Fuentes rally, the people running Rumble are frauds” [Twitter, 7/18/23]
• Right-wing podcaster Dick Masterson said: “I can’t wait to see what all the ecelebs being paid by Rumble think about their censorship of Nick Fuentes! Whom they also hate. I’m sure it’s totally principled and not stupid and hysterical at all.” [Twitter, 7/19/23]
• Right-wing personality Isabella Riley Moody commented that “Rumble is actively censoring Fuentes?? This is an insane violation of trust in a ‘Free Speech platform’” and that “Rumble loses ALL credibility after removing Nick Fuentes’ speech.” [Twitter, 7/19/23, 7/19/23]
• Fuentes follower Tyler Russell tweeted that “#RUMBLECENSORED NICK FUENTES' RALLY. JUST TOOK IT DOWN MID-BROADCAST. I THOUGHT THAT THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO SUPPORT FREE SPEECH? Nick wants to put America First - and the young conservatives who attended the rally to support Nick deserve to have their voices heard. #NickFuentes.” He also tweeted asking Rumble, “Why did you just censor Nick Fuentes and his gen Z conservative supporters then? #RUMBLECENSORED NICK FUENTES.” [Twitter, 7/18/23, 7/18/23]
• Right-wing podcast host Joey Mannarino claimed that Rumble was following in YouTube’s footsteps by taking down extreme content: “I thought that @RumbleVideo was the home of free speech that refused to censor. Why did they take down Nick Fuentes’s speech then? I don’t care who disagrees with him or agrees with him - that is totally irrelevant. People should be able to hear other viewpoints - especially ones they disagree with and that go against the grain. That’s WHY Rumble was formed - right? The fact that a platform who is supposed to allow ALL FORMS of speech, and was FOUNDED because YouTube was too full of censorship, is now censoring certain speech that they don’t like is pretty sad. Is it at all possible to have a platform free of censorship? @ChrisPavlovski, what’s the deal here? Is Rumble going to be the next YouTube?” [Twitter, 7/18/23] 

Several anonymous groyper accounts also joined in:

• A groyper posted a screenshot from a Rumble stream that Fuentes had called into, announcing: “NEW: nick fuentes calls @LeafyIsHere discuss rumble censoring fuentes #RUMBLECENSORED” [Twitter, 7/19/23] 
• Another groyper expressed their doubts about Rumble’s free speech branding, stating: “I’m having SERIOUS doubts about Rumble’s commitment to free speech #RUMBLECENSORED” [Twitter, 7/19/23] 
• One groyper declared that Fuentes’ movement needs to be the “vanguard of anti censorship and a free internet,” and went on to attack Rumble for removing the stream, stating: “On the same night that #rumblecensored Nick Fuentes rally they are allowing hostile forces to bot @sneako's stream in an attempt to get him banned How is it that your platform is so on top of caving to the demands of the ADL but so slow to protect your creators? @chrispavlovski” [Twitter, 7/19/23, 7/19/23]

Several users went as far as to specifically call out Rumble’s antisemitism policy:

• Torba speculated that Rumble had been bribed to implement their antisemitism policy, stating on Twitter: “Rumble banned ‘hate speech’ and ‘antisemitism’ in their TOS and then raised $300 million dollars out of nowhere. Funny how that works.” [Twitter, 7/18/23] 
• Rumble streamer and former BlazeTV host Elijah Schaffer insinuated that the policy was implemented for nefarious reasons, stating: “Rumble REMOVED the livestream from the Fuentes II Rally - in line with their policy banning ‘Anti-Semitism’ A policy put in place the same day Trump joined the platform Thoughts?” [Twitter, 7/18/23]
• Streamer Leafy tweeted that Rumble’s antisemitism policy went against its free speech ideals, stating: “Rumble will allow you to say anything you want about blacks, Indians, asians, muslims, but they’ll draw the line at ‘antisemitism’ and ban you for it ahahhaha I wonder why 👀 there is officially no point to Rumble anymore, as there’s no free speech Free Nick Fuentes” [Twitter, 7/19/23]

Some users even blamed a recent interaction Elon Musk had on Twitter: 

• A Twitter page presenting as a news outlet for groypers outright blamed Musk for the rally being taken down: “America First activist Nick Fuentes’ West Palm Beach Rally livestream has been BANNED from Rumble after pressure from Twitter owner @elonmusk … #RUMBLECENSORED” [Twitter, 7/18/23]
• Another groyper posted a segment of Fuentes’ appearance on the Fresh & Fit, in response to a Tweet bemoaning Fuentes’ rally being taken down, with the caption: “What now? … #RUMBLECENSORED #NickFuentes” [Twitter, 7/18/23] 
• One user posted a collage of pictures of Elon Musk in Israel and headlines about Musk’s business dealings in Israel to Twitter, with the caption “🚨 EXCLUSIVE: @elonmusk pressured @rumblevideo CEO, @chrispavlovski, to censor Nick Fuentes. Musk, a Zionist Supremacist who supports the Jewish Terrorists of Masada, bought Twitter to silence criticism of @Israel #RUMBLECENSORED Nick Fuentes to protect genocidal @netanyahu” [Twitter, 7/18/23]