Uncensoring the cloud

Rumble, a video site that bills itself as a free speech alternative to YouTube, is planning to use the cash injection from its public offering to build its own cloud service and ad network.

  • The Toronto-based company (that’s also backed by billionaire Peter Thiel) went public this week via a blank-check firm with a valuation of US$2 billion.
     
  • Rumble made noise earlier this year by allowing Russian-state broadcaster RT to continue streaming on its platform and launching an antitrust suit against Google.

Why it matters: Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure dominate half of the global cloud market but restrict clients from publishing abusive, defamatory or illegal content. 

Representatives at Rumble describe the vision for its cloud service as “a neutral place for your business to be free” and aims to attract customers looking to dodge content restrictions. 

  • Rumble’s cloud services do not appear to be widely available yet, but it currently does have some clientele, notably Donald Trump’s Twitter competitor Truth Social

Bottom line: Cloud computing underpins the operations of basically every business, from supporting data storage to video hosting. Most platforms can’t run without it. 

By rolling out censorship-free infrastructure, Rumble could become a rising power in a saturated cloud market, but it’s too early to tell how things would shake out in the long run.