© The Post MillennialRumble CEO Chris Pavlovski
Video streaming site Rumble came under a DDOS attack on Monday. This after pledging to "
go thermonuclear as well" along with Elon Musk following a Media Matters hit piece on X.
"UPDATE: We are currently experiencing a major DDOS attack. Our engineers are investigating and we will report back here with updates," Rumble said. A DDoS attack is "a
cybercrime where the attacker floods a server with internet traffic to prevent users from accessing connected online services and sites." It disables the site that is attacked.
"When I said the cavalry is coming, I was not joking. In the coming days, we are going thermonuclear as well. Everyone is about to witness the greatest pushback against the censorship regime. The people's support for all organizations in this mission is critical," Pavlovski said.
Rumble is dedicated to free speech, as is X.
Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski has rejected attempts by activists, government officials, and censors to censor accounts on the platform. As for many free speech absolutists, the idea behind Rumble is that the answer to speech you don't like is simply more speech.
At 2:54, Rumble posted to X that services had been restored, with the post including a map where a large portion of the attacks came from.
"The world doesn't like freedom of expression, but we will hold the line for as long as we need to."
Comment: The report on Pavlovski's
pledge
Elon Musk said he would "file a thermonuclear lawsuit" against Media Matters over a hit piece they released last week that led corporate advertisers to leave the X platform. He alleged that they manipulated their research methods to attain a desired result — that of showing ads from high-profile companies next to antisemitic content. The Babylon Bee, Timcast, and Benny Media all pledged big ad buys on the platform. Now, Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski has announced his plans to "go thermonuclear as well."
"When I said the cavalry is coming, I was not joking. In the coming days, we are going thermonuclear as well. Everyone is about to witness the greatest pushback against the censorship regime. The people's support for all organizations in this mission is critical," Pavlovski said.
"Yes," Musk replied simply.
The Missouri attorney general's office is also investigating after allegations that Media Matters gamed servers to prove their hypothesis. "My team is looking into this matter," said Andrew Bailey. It was Bailey's team that brought suit against the Biden administration over censorship on social media platforms. That suit, still ongoing, resulted in a federal judge prohibiting the Biden White House from contacting social media companies altogether.
Pavlovski is no stranger to controversy. Like Musk, he has dedicated his platform to free speech. And like Musk, he has been savagely attacked for it. Rumble has been targeted by Check My Ads, a not-for-profit that claims to "cut disinformation off at the source." What they really do is shame advertisers into pulling their ads from sites that do not align with Check My Ads' progressive values.
Rumble was recently targeted by The News Movement, owned by The Recount, after Rumble backed Russell Brand in the wake of YouTube demonetizing him, pulling ads from his videos on that platform. Rumble said they would absolutely not do that — despite pressure from members of Parliament in the UK.
Reports on Brand emerged in British media after a years-long investigation into rumors of his sexual misdeeds. Media outlets that reported on the allegations dug up by the press contacted advertisers who supported Brand's content. Those advertisers, under threat of shame or perhaps fearing boycotts, told the media they would pull their ads.
When Rumble was contacted, they declined absolutely. The News Movement then contacted advertisers who placed ads on the Rumble platform and encouraged them to pull their ads.
X has been under threat from ad boycotts since Musk bought the platform and dedicated it to free speech. Those who crave censorship, who want social media platforms to align with a progressive worldview, continue to go after X and Rumble for refusing to censor the speech of those on the platform. They demand content moderation, but over the past several years, that has meant the suppression and censorship of truth, honest reporting, and facts.
Tim Pool of
Timcast comments:
Comment: The report on Pavlovski's pledge Tim Pool of Timcast comments: