The video platform Rumble announced this Tuesday (14) that it has returned to full operation in France, after a favorable court decision that ended a dispute with the French government that began three years ago.
In 2022, Rumble claimed to have received an email from an official in a French ministry’s office demanding the removal of certain videos from the platform under threat of legal action. The message, according to the company, did not come from a regulatory body or a judicial authority, but from a political representative who asked for the deletion of content considered “problematic” by the government. According to local media, the content came from Russian state agencies RT e Sputnik.
The company refused to comply with the requirement and chose to completely block access to the website on French territory. At the time, Rumble declared that it would not accept “censorship imposed by governments” and that it would rather suspend its activities in the country than compromise the principle of freedom of expression.
Now, according to Rumble, a local French court has ruled that the email sent in 2022 “has no legal validity as an enforceable order”, recognizing that the notification could not force the company to remove content. The ruling paved the way for Rumble to restore service to French users.
In a statement, the platform’s founder and executive director, Chris Pavlovski, celebrated the decision.
“Freedom wins again, and we are thrilled that the French people will once again have access to the Rumble public square, where the free exchange of ideas takes place 24 hours a day,” he said. Pavlovski also highlighted the symbolic value of the outcome: “France has a rich history of fighting for individual freedoms, which aligns perfectly with Rumble, as we are a platform that puts freedom first in everything we do. We hope to turn the page in France and begin a new chapter.”
Founded in 2013 by Pavlovski, Rumble is a video platform and cloud services aimed at creating an independent infrastructure, resistant to censorship and the influence of large technology companies. The company claims its mission is to “restore the internet to its roots, making it free and open again”.
