Misinformation thrives on video site popular with far-right
Election misinformation is thriving on Rumble, a video sharing platform popular with some conservatives and far-right groups, according to research published Thursday.
Nearly half of the videos suggested by the site in response to searches for common election-related terms contained misinformation, according to the analysis from NewsGuard, a firm that monitors online misinformation.
The percentage was far better at Rumble's much larger rival YouTube, where about 1 in 5 videos were found to contain misinformation after researchers ran the same searches. The search terms included the names of candidates as well as politically sensitive words and phrases such as gun rights, voter fraud and abortion.
The findings illustrate how alternative platforms like Rumble have become hot spots for election-related misinformation as they have increased in popularity. The site is popular with conservatives and some far-right groups critical of content moderation efforts by larger platforms such as YouTube.
Misleading or deceptive claims about voting and elections have proliferated in heading into next week's elections and have been blamed for increasing distrust and polarization.
Some of the videos reviewed by NewsGuard's researchers in October included online shows featuring allies of former President Donald Trump such as Steve Bannon and conspiracy theorists such as Alex Jones. Many videos contained debunked claims about the 2020 election, the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, the QAnon conspiracy theory, as well as misinformation about voting and the elections.
“Rumble frequently pushes videos from untrustworthy sources that traffic in election misinformation,” NewsGuard's report found.
Messages left with Rumble were not immediately returned Wednesday and Thursday. According to a mission statement on the...