The free speech social media platform Rumble could be forced out of operations in the United Kingdom if it fails to comply with the country’s stringent new “online safety” laws.
Rumble, which hosts a number of commentators including Donald Trump Jr., Russell Brand, and even The National Pulse, will have to operate within the tight restrictions contained in the recently passed the so-called “Online Safety Bill” if it does not want to have its content either disrupted or blocked in the UK.
The bill allows the British government to censor any news or content considered violent or “harmful to health,” including questioning the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine. It also claims to monitor content that promotes “self-harm, suicide, or eating disorders.”
Failure to comply with the restrictions could even leave the social media platform’s executives open to arrest if they visit the UK. Notably, these laws were overseen, enacted, and widely supported by the UK’s “Conservative” Party.
“Their whole philosophy is freedom of expression…So when they get a letter from Ofcom saying, ‘Here are all the things you’re going to have to do’, it seems to me the most likely reaction is going to be they’re going to say, ‘Well, we won’t operate in the UK any more,’” states British peer Lord Allan of Hallam.