¶ JD Vance’s Relationship With Google And Rumble
Highlights:
- JD Vance called for breaking up Google, and disintegrating Google from Rumble’s competitor YouTube.
- Vance called for breaking up Google.
- Vance opposed Google’s integration with Rumble competitor, YouTube.
- JD Vance held between $115,002 and $300,000 in Rumble stock.
- Vance held between $115,002 and $300,000 in stock in Rumble.
- Vance’s firm Narya Capital invested in Rumble.
- Rumble brought multiple antitrust lawsuits against Google, claiming it disfavored Rumble’s content.
- In a 2021 antitrust lawsuit against Google, Rumble claimed Google’s results were biased against their platform. As of May 2024, the case was still in discovery.
- In a 2024 lawsuit against Google, Rumble claimed Google owed Rumble upwards of $1 billion in damages for lost ad revenue due to monopolistic behavior.
¶ Vance Called For Breaking Up Google And Disintegrating Google From Rumble Competitor, YouTube
VANCE CALLED FOR BREAKING UP GOOGLE
¶ Vance Called For Breaking Up Google
Vance Called For Google To Be Broken Up. According to Vance via his personal Twitter, “Long overdue, but it's time to break Google up. This matters far more than any other election integrity issue. The monopolistic control of information in our society resides with an explicitly progressive technology company. Quote Tweet: @Timcast - Google is rigging the 2024 election.” [Vance via Twitter, 2/23/24]
¶ Vance Called Google A Monopoly And A “Threat To Democracy”
Vance Said That It Was Bad For Google To Have A Monopoly Because Its Search Results Were Biased Towards Democrats, Calling It A “Threat To Democracy.” According to Vance via his personal Twitter, “In October and November, as millions of undecided voters consider their choice for president, they will go to Google and ask ‘Did Donald Trump say X?’ ‘Is Biden too old to be president?’ The results they see will be explicitly biased towards Democrats. A threat to democracy.” [Vance via Twitter, 2/23/24]
VIDEO: Vance Said That Google Was A Threat To Democracy. According to RemedyFest via YouTube, “VANCE: But let's say you go into Google and you type ‘Is Joe Biden too old to be president?’ Or “Is Joe Biden not competent enough to be president?” Okay, now there are a million different answers you could get to that question and whether Google, I think, provides a fundamentally unbiased search result is, I think, at the heart of American democracy. Because Google can answer that question in a way that makes the average voter - it will make their decision in the weeks leading up to an election - can answer that question in a way that takes what I believe is a very live political issue and completely hides it from them, or whatever your views are on that question. The American people, I think, should have the right to decide it. If the new mode of acquiring information is fundamentally biased, I think it's a far bigger threat to democracy than almost anything that's called a threat to democracy in 2024.” [RemedyFest via YouTube, 2/27/24]
¶ Vance Opposed Google’s Integration With Rumble Competitor, YouTube
¶ Vance Called For Separating Google Integrations With YouTube To Make Room For Competitors Into The Tech Space
VIDEO: Vance Called For Separating YouTube Integrations With Google. According to RemedyFest via YouTube, “VANCE: I think my argument is actually, even if you believe that there are network effects that make Google more powerful or make Gemini a more powerful tool within Google, there are, there are actually some real, real issues here with, one, just the integration – Right? So does Google need to have YouTube? Does Google need to have all of these other platforms that are built on top of - or built underneath - the Google umbrella?” [RemedyFest via YouTube, 2/27/24]
VIDEO: Vance Called For Breaking Up Google To Make Room For “New Entrants” In The Space. According to RemedyFest via YouTube, “VANCE: I think there's a really good argument that we want to be pro-innovation. We want to ensure that new entrants can change these things up; that you want to promote as much competition as possible and you actually want to separate all of these market verticals as much as possible. That's where I think antitrust is probably the most useful way to think about a solution to what we face.” [RemedyFest via YouTube, 2/27/24]
¶ Rumble Was A Direct Competitor With YouTube
Seattle Times Headline: “Rumble, A YouTube Rival Popular With Conservatives, Will Pay Creators Who ‘Challenge The Status Quo.’” [Seattle Times, 8/16/21]
Rumble Was A Direct Rival Of YouTube. According to Business Insider, “Rumble is a direct rival to YouTube that has become popular with conservative US figures who say they are being censored by established tech platforms.” [Business Insider, 1/12/21]
¶ Vance Held Between $115,002 and $300,000 In Rumble Stock
¶ Vance Held Between $115,002 And $300,000 In Stock In Rumble
Vance Held Between $100,000 and $250,000 Worth Of Stock In Rumble. According to Vance’s 2022 Personal Financial Disclosure
[United States Senate Financial Disclosures, Filed 10/30/23]
Vance Held Between $15,001 And $50,000 Worth Of Stock In Rumble
[United States Senate Financial Disclosures, Filed 10/30/23]
¶ Vance’s Firm Narya Capital Invested In Rumble
2020: Vance Founded Narya Capital. According to the Financial Times, “Co-founded by Vance in 2020, Narya Capital is a reference to one of the ‘rings of power’ in The Lord of the Rings and a nod to Thiel’s penchant for companies with Tolkien-inspired monikers. The PayPal co-founder’s influence has marked Vance’s career, seeding him millions of dollars to launch Narya, before funding a successful campaign to win a US Senate seat in 2022.” [Financial Times, 7/17/24]
Vance Led Narya’s Investment In Rumble. According to the Financial Times, “Vance and his co-founder led Narya’s investment in Rumble, a video platform favoured by the political right for its free speech ethos, and at his previous fund, Rise of the Rest, he invested in Anduril Industries, an artificial intelligence defence and weapons group whose early funding came from Thiel — and whose name is also a Tolkien reference.” [Financial Times, 7/17/24]
¶ Rumble Brought An Antitrust Suit Against Google, Claiming That Google Disfavored Rumble’s Content
¶ Rumble Filed Multiple Antitrust Lawsuits Against Google, Claiming That Google’s Results Were Biased Against Their Platform
2021: Rumble Claimed In Antitrust Lawsuit That Google’s Search Results Were Biased Against Rumble’s Content And Promoted YouTube Over Their Platform. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Toronto-based Rumble, which has become popular among conservative pundits, on Monday filed an antitrust suit in federal court in California arguing that Google is ‘unfairly rigging its search algorithms’ to place YouTube above Rumble in its search results.” [Wall Street Journal, 1/11/21]
- As Of May 2024, The Antitrust Lawsuit Against Google Was In Discovery. According to Axios, “Rumble first sued Google in 2021 for illegally favoring YouTube videos in Google search results and within its Android mobile operating system. That lawsuit is currently in discovery, after a judge decided against Google in its motion to dismiss the case.” [Axios, 5/13/24]
2024: Rumble Filed A Second Lawsuit Against Google And Its Parent Alphabet Claiming Google Owed Rumble Upwards Of $1 Billion In Damages For Lost Ad Revenue Due To Monopolistic Behavior. According to Axios, “Rumble, the publicly-traded YouTube alternative that's favored by conservatives, has filed a lawsuit against Google and its parent Alphabet. […] The lawsuit argues that Google owes Rumble upwards of $1 billion in damages for lost ad revenue as a client, and for illegally leveraging its dominance in ad technology to hamper Rumble's ability to compete as an ad tech competitor.” [Axios, 5/13/24]
¶ Rumble Claimed That Google’s Algorithm Cost The Platform More Than $2 Billion
Rumble Claimed That Google’s Diversion Of Online Traffic Cost Rumble Significant Revenue. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Rumble said Google’s behavior cost it significant numbers of viewers and advertising dollars. […] ‘Google, through its search engine, was able to wrongfully divert massive traffic to YouTube, depriving Rumble of the additional traffic, users, uploads, brand awareness and revenue it would have otherwise received,’ the lawsuit states.” [Wall Street Journal, 1/11/21]
Rumble Said That Google’s Bias Was Costing The Platform More Than $2 Billion. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Since 2014, Rumble says, its videos syndicated on YouTube have generated 9.3 billion views, and $4.3 million in revenue. Rumble contends that most, if not all, of those 9.3 billion views would have occurred on the Rumble website had Google not boosted YouTube in search results. Those viewers would have watched and uploaded other videos, too, all of which would have earned better ad rates than on YouTube, Rumble contends. Cumulatively, Rumble calculates that advertising on the allegedly missing views over that period would have generated ‘well in excess of $2 billion.’” [Wall Street Journal, 1/11/21]