Video platform handed major victory in defamation complaint against leftists

The Rumble video platform has been handed a major victory in its war against leftist ideologues who run a web influence operation that purports to offer information about online advertising.

The company now will be allowed to seek discovery, or evidence in the case, while it remains pending in federal court.

A report at the Federalist notes the case eventually could expose how closely connected are Democrat operatives and efforts to censor conservative outlets.

The report explained the ruling was that a federal judge said Rumble could proceed with discovery against Nandini Jammi and Claire Atkin, who founded Check My Ads.

“The court’s ruling also suggests the efforts by the Check My Ads co-founders to have Rumble’s civil case tossed will fail, meaning the country may soon learn much more about how the censorship-industrial complex functions — including Democrats and Media Matters’ alleged role,” the report explained.

Rumble’s complaint, filed in court in Florida, charges that Jammi and Atkins run Check My Ads, a tax-exempt group “purportedly serving as ‘an independent watchdog reshaping the digital advertising industry.'”

Other defendants are thought to include Media Matters, David Brock’s leftist group, and others.

The case was triggered by an October 24, 2023, article that alleged that Rumble “is heavily monetized by Google Ads.”

It accused, “Rumble loves to boast about being free from Big Tech. In reality, the business appears to be heavily dependent on Google Ads, by far its largest advertising partner — and advertisers often have no idea their ads are appearing there. Rumble is part of Google Video Partners, which means Google dumps inventory there that many advertisers assume is going to YouTube. And it seems to know brands wouldn’t appreciate appearing next to some of Rumble’s content: it has taken steps to minimize the risk of advertisers waking up to screenshots of their ads next to Alex Jones’ face.”

Then Jammi and Atkins post social media statements claiming Rumble was beholden to Google ads, including one claim that Rumble was 90% funded by Google ads.

The agenda is accused of intending to pressure advertisers to stop allowing their ads on Rumble.

But the lawsuit charges the 90% was false, that it actually was getting “less than 1% of the company’s total revenue” there.

Rumble charged the defendants made false claims to imply it is susceptible to a material financial risk, that they diminished Rumble’s brand in the eyes of shareholders and more.

“The complaint highlights interactions between Rumble and the defendants which plaintiff alleges shows they knew the claims about dependency on Google were false. Rumble further alleges that Atkins and Jammi knew their claims were false because the duo were familiar with Media Matter’s statement from 2022 that ‘Google’s ad network made up [only] 2% of total advertiser spending on Rumble.com in the last year,'” the report said.

Discovery now, the report said, “could well expose how tightly connected the Democrat Party is to efforts to censor conservative outlets.

The defendants wanted a judge to order discovery halted for now, but the court declined.