Questions linger surrounding the timing of changes to Rumble’s Terms and Conditions on the very same day President Trump’s verified account appeared on the video hosting website. New rules to limit ‘hate speech’ appeared on Saturday with specific mention of “anti-Semitic” content and comments being in violation.
Most of the list of what is not allowed as content on the site deals with legalities such as trademarks, copyright, intellectual property, pornography, inciting violence, etc., but a line is aimed squarely at the ambiguous ‘hate speech’. It reads, “Content or material that is grossly offensive to the online community, including but not limited to, expressions of bigotry, prejudice, racism, anti-Semitism and hatred”
To call out protections for one specific group in the Terms and Conditions seems odd to many, considering no other group gets the same consideration anywhere on the rest of the website. Many wonder if President Trump and his advisors might have had a say in the new rules as a condition to coming to the site as a content creator. Gab CEO Andrew Torba suggested as much, and wrote on Gab, “No mention of banning Anti-White hatred, which is still allowed. According to WayBackMachine a few days prior their terms did not include these things. Check it for yourself.”
President Trump repeatedly touted his close relationship with Israel and support of Jewish people throughout his administration. In 2017 he announced the US embassy would move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, thereby declaring the US officially recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama all promised to move the US embassy to Jerusalem in their respective campaigns prior to winning the Presidency, yet none were successful.
Some, including Torba, have suggested President Turmp’s son-in-law Jared Kushner approaches platforms with a list of requirements for President Trump to join. National File has reported that Kushner wouldn’t let President Trump join the free speech social network, Gab, unless criticism of Jewish people and Israel was banned according to Gab CEO Andrew Torba. Similarly, President Trump’s team reportedly refused to allow the 45th President to join Parler unless the platform consented to banning those who criticized him.
With President Trump being banned from the Big Tech sites he seemingly was on the hunt for a new ‘public square’ to be able to communicate directly to the American people. His passionate followers would likely swarm to whichever alt-tech site he chooses. This certainly might give Trump’s team some clout to make suggestions about how they would want a website moderated if they were to be a content provider.