NBC Picked the Wrong Partner to Take to the Republican Debate | Opinion

We are one year away from the 2024 presidential election and once again, the mainstream media is ignoring the threat of extremist propaganda machines. Today, the media, specifically NBC News, is failing the United States electorate.

Not just because NBC News is uncritically platforming misinformation as a co-host of tonight's third Republican debate, but because the network is working with one of the far-right's most powerful propaganda machines, Rumble, to do it. By co-hosting tonight's debate with Rumble, NBC is legitimizing a video-sharing platform that bankrolls self-described misogynists and promotes right-wing conspiracy theorists.

We've seen this happen before. In 2016, Steve Bannon leveraged the toxic online communities built out of Gamergate, deploying meme culture and misogyny on social platforms at scale—radicalizing an entire demographic with misinformation and hate and powering Donald Trump to the White House.

The far right can do this again in 2024, and if they do, it will be because of the newest weapon in their arsenal: Rumble.

Founded in 2013 and backed by billionaire "anti-woke" venture capitalist Peter Thiel and Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, Rumble was designed to be immune to "cancel culture," according to its founder, Chris Pavlovski.

Twenty-five percent of the most popular Rumble accounts are banned or demonetized on mainstream social media platforms.

Rumble doesn't just provide a platform for misogynists and extremists. They fund them directly: Paying millions to Andrew Tate, who faces a rape indictment, white nationalist Nick Fuentes, Sandy Hook conspiracy fraudster Alex Jones, and alleged sexual abuser Russel Brand.

Misogyny and white supremacy seem to be core organizing components of Rumble's influencers. These include Stew Peters' violent calls on the platform urging followers to kill immigrants at the border, and influencer Tommy Sotomayor's livestream a four-hour misogynoir rant titled "Black Women Are The Lowest Class Of Women On Earth! Here Is The Proof!" During his tirade, Sotomayor claimed that "the downfall of the Black race is the Black women."

Misogyny and extremism on Rumble are intentional. The platform is designed to be a radicalization engine for the GOP.

NBC is aware of these facts about Rumble and made a business decision to co-host the RNC debate with the platform anyway. NBC is making a major mistake.

Corporations like Comcast, which owns NBC, have an obligation and a business incentive to protect the country driving their profits from the dissolution of its democracy. NBC's users or their customers—at least half of whom are women—have a right to be safe and the young men and boys being radicalized do, too.

This is not the first time NBC has made decisions that have made women less safe and betrayed its obligations to its customers and employees. Ultimately, when pressured both internally and externally, they've been compelled to take accountability, from revising their HR policies with respect to Non-Disclosure Agreements to firing Matt Lauer for sexual misconduct. More recently, long-time chairman Andy Lack exited the company after employees came forward with sexual harassment claims. NBC has a responsibility and an opportunity to be clear about its values, both because women deserve it and because the future of our democracy requires it.

Instead, NBC is signaling that it will sacrifice common-sense standards for upholding the rules of civil society for profit. In an election year with so much on the line, those actions can't be tolerated.

What makes matters worse, is that by validating Rumble with its partnership, NBC makes it more likely that Rumble will continue to skirt accountability.

Advertisers, a primary source of revenue for Rumble, are only now starting to demand accountability and common-sense community standards on the platform, threatening to pull their ad dollars. We already saw major brands like Burger King, Asos, and Hello Fresh pull their ads after Rumble refused to sever ties with actor and comedian Russell Brand following allegations of sexual assault and rape. Similarly, Ruggable pulled out from Rumble after its advertisements were seen next to content by Brand, Andrew Tate, and Alex Jones. But we need deeper accountability from mainstream media corporations to really change how Rumble holds itself and its influencers accountable.

At such a precarious moment in our nation's history, and ahead of 2024's presidential election, the failure of major corporations to recognize the threat of platforms like Rumble- and take seriously their own power to validate and mainstream extremist ideology—could have harrowing impacts on us all. Just as in 2016 and 2020, media corporations made the mistake of underestimating the power of right-wing extremists. It won't just be women paying the price, but our entire democracy.

Shaunna Thomas is the co-founder and executive director of UltraViolet.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.