As Big Tech de-persons Russell Brand following multiple sexual assaults against him, the UK parliament is now asking video-sharing platform Rumble why they have not demonetized the comedian’s channel.
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British Member of Parliament, Dame Caroline Dinenage, wrote to Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski asking whether he would suspend monetization of Brand’s account, noting that Brand had posted his pre-emptive message regarding the allegations.
The letter, on the whole, is unsurprising, given the mounting pressure the government is placing on platforms to remove Brand, but the following line is pretty chilling:
“While we recognise that Rumble is not the creator of the content published by Mr Brand, we are concerned that he may be able to profit from his content on the platform.”
The government appears to be trying to prevent Brand from having the ability to pay for attorneys for his defense.
Rumble published their reply on Twitter/X, reminding Dame Dinenage that they are not in the United Kingdom and do things a little differently in the United States.
Brandon Morse of RedSate hit the nail on the head.
Rumble says it opposes censorship and prides itself as an “independent” platform.
Last year, Rumble also challenged New York’s online hate speech law.
However, the platform does have rules designed to place some restrictions on content.
In 2022, Rumble proposed policies prohibiting creators from using the platform to incite unlawful conduct, dox, stalk, and discrimination, the Guardian reported.
The news came just days after YouTube demonetized Brand’s videos on his channel.
According to a joint investigation by newspapers The Sunday Times, The Times, and the TV show Dispatches, women alleged Brand sexually assaulted them between 2006 and 2013
Brand has denied the allegations, saying in a video posted on Friday on X, formerly Twitter, that his relationships have been “always consensual.
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“We have suspended monetization on Russell Brand’s channel for violating our creator responsibility policy,” YouTube announced Tuesday.
“If a creator’s off-platform behaviour harms our users, employees or ecosystem, we take action to protect the community.”
YouTube said it suspended Brand’s channel from the YouTube Partner Program “following serious allegations against the creator. This action means the channel is no longer able to monetize on YouTube.”
The comedian said he has always been transparent about his previous relationships being consensual, suggesting “mainstream media outlets are making a coordinated attack” against him.
“These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream, when I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies, and as I’ve written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous,” he said.
Meanwhile, London’s Metropolitan Police Service said it was investigating a report of an alleged sexual assault against Brand.
“We continue to encourage anyone who believes they may have been a victim of a sexual offence, no matter how long ago it was, to contact us,” the department said.
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