Russian-backed RT heads to YouTube copycat Rumble after tech companies enact restrictions

Not long after YouTube and a number of other platforms enacted restrictions on Russian state-controlled news outlet RT, the network itself announced Thursday it would instead begin broadcasting on Rumble, an alternative online video platform popular among U.S. conservatives, The New York Times and Reuters report.
"RT gets ready to... Rumble: After a multitude of platforms have moved to knock out our broadcast and limit social media... You can stay on top of our LIVE broadcast, any time, anywhere right here," RT tweeted on Thursday.
Multiple tech and social media companies have, in recent days, moved to limit Russian misinformation and propaganda across their platforms as the war in Ukraine unfolds, the Times reports. In one example, Twitter this week said it would flag posts that link to Russian state-affiliated media outlets with a label, per the Times. In another, streaming company Roku removed the RT app from its global Roku Channel Store, per Reuters. And on Tuesday, DirectTV, only one of two major U.S. carriers to offer RT's stateside affiliate RT America, announced it would be taking the channel off the air.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
CNN on Thursday also reported that the production company behind RT America had laid off most of its staff, which could perhaps mean "an effective end" to RT America. The network is "one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's main mouthpieces in the U.S.," CNN writes.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclub
Speed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's ills
Speed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, Stallone
Speed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's view
Speed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talk
Speed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'
Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposes
speed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wife
speed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play