Opening statement, Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski

House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing on Brazil’s censorship demands to American social media companies
In his opening statement, Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski, whose company is known for its staunch support of free speech, warned that the fundamental rights of freedom of speech and freedom of expression are being threatened by government censorship demands and provided a detailed account of the censorship pressures faced by Rumble. He drew attention to the alarming requests from various countries to suppress content that, although unpopular, did not violate Rumble’s guidelines.
“We were surprised in 2022 when we received a request from the French government to block certain news sources,” Pavlvoski said. “Rather than comply, we simply disabled access to the platform in France and challenged the legality of this demand.” He also provided details on Brazil’s escalating censorship demands: “Earlier this year, we received requests from the Brazilian government to remove certain creators from our platform. Again, the content did not violate our terms and conditions, but instead shared opinions that were ‘unpopular’ in Brazil at the time.”
Rumble again took a bold step by not complying and instead choosing to disable access in Brazil while legally contesting the demands. He concluded his opening remarks by criticizing the US for failing to defend freedom of speech and protect American businesses that attempt to uphold this right in Brazil and urged America to “step up and take a leading role” to combat the “out of control” censorship demands from foreign countries. “Every totalitarian regime that has crushed the rights of individuals, has sought to control what people can say and hear,” Pavlovski warned. “It’s never the good guys doing the censoring. If the United States won’t stand up for freedom of speech – who will?”