Rumble, a YouTube-like video-sharing site with looser moderation rules that has become popular with conservatives, wants podcaster Joe Rogan to leave Spotify for a cool $100 million. (Insider)
The offer, made public in a letter from Rumble chief executive Chris Pavlovski posted to Twitter, follows Spotify CEO Daniel Ek’s letter to employees on Sunday apologizing for Rogan’s use of a racial slur in previous podcast episodes and saying he doesn’t believe in “silencing” him. (WSJ)
Rumble’s offer comes after Spotify removed more than 70 episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience, ostensibly because they contained repeated uses of the n-word and other offensive language. (Rolling Stone)
Rogan is also facing backlash for Covid-19 misinformation in his program hosted on Spotify, after singer-songwriters including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell pulled their content from the streaming platform. (Reuters)
Since launching in 2013, Rumble, a Canadian video-sharing platform that presents itself as an alternative to YouTube, has become a right-wing haven. The site saw significant growth following the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, with monthly viewership surging from 1.6 million users in fall 2020 to 31.9 million by the end of 2021’s first quarter. (Time)