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Monday, August 26, 2024

CRIMINAL CRYPTO CAPITALI$M

Rumble CEO on the Run After Telegram CEO Arrest

End of the line for fake casino streamers + shady gambling affiliates on Rumble?

by Natasha Lyndon - Monday, August 26th, 2024

Following the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov for allegedly failing to mitigate the misuse of the platform for criminal activities, attentions have now turned to video streaming platform Rumble, a haven for gambling & casino streamers, affiliates and fake casino streamers.
Durov Arrest

French judicial authorities arrested Russian-born founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov on Sunday August 25th. Authorities have since extended his detention to 96 hours.

He was detained for breaching The European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA). Since August 25th, 2023, the EU designates platform service providers with more than 45 million users within its borders as a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP). These providers are then subject to rules that hold them legally accountable for the content posted on their platforms.

Rumble currently has an average monthly user total of 53 million up from 50 million in the first quarter of 2024.

Rumble – Home to Affiliates promoting Illegal casinos, & Fake Gambling Streamers

Rumble became the go-to platform for streamers of games at unlicensed casinos and fake streamers after Twitch Twitch updated its rules in relation to gambling in September of 2022. The new policy saw the platform ban the “streaming of gambling sites that include slots, roulette, or dice games.” These streams are only banned if the websites in question are not licensed in a country or state that provides ‘sufficient consumer protection’. Poker and sports betting were not included in the ban.

The gambling policy was brought into force following a scandal involving a streamer accused of scamming users and other content creators. The alleged scammer—popular streamer ‘Sliker’—was accused of cheating his followers and fellow content creators out of $200,000 in order to fund his gambling addiction.

The new policy saw a wave of popular live streamers leave the platform and make their way to Rumble which has no explicit limitations on the streaming of gambling content. The platform’s terms and conditions forbids pornography, harassment, racism, antisemitism, copyright infringement, and illegal content.

This allows streamers on Rumble to promote gambling from unlicensed gambling websites without restrictions. The lax restrictions also led to an influx of fake streamers and affiliates. In many cases, these streamers are paid by unlicensed casinos to stream using virtual cash to win fake jackpots. These are marketed as genuine ‘live wins’ encouraging sign ups from unsuspecting new customers.
Rumble Under Threat – CEO Defiant

Following Durov’s arrest Rumble CEO and founder Chris Pavlovski made a statement on X (formerly Twitter).

I’m a little late to this, but for good reason — I’ve just safely departed from Europe.

France has threatened Rumble, and now they have crossed a red line by arresting Telegram’s CEO, Pavel Durov, reportedly for not censoring speech.

Rumble will not stand for this behavior and will use every legal means available to fight for freedom of expression, a universal human right. We are currently fighting in the courts of France, and we hope for Pavel Durov’s immediate release.

A day earlier, Pavlovski stated that both France and Brazil had threatened Rumble and the platform had withdrawn from the markets. The company is also under fire in the UK and New Zealand while it is already banned in China and Russia.

While government are primarily focused on the restriction of illegal content and activity on Rumble, the company’s decision to remove itself from certain markets does not bode well for gambling streamers.

Rumble is not quite at the same level as Twitch in its prime. However, it still hosts a substantial number of recorded videos and live streams in its various slots and gambling channels. Should other governments follow France’s lead and threaten Rumble with legal action, then it’s possible that it will remove access in those markets, limiting the ability for affiliates to stream and promote unlicensed gambling sites.

Natasha Lyndon
Based in London, Natasha is a former sports journalist with experience working for some of the biggest athletes & brands in the world of sports and iGaming.