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Whether or not youre leaping for it, frogs are having a moment and it is our sacred duty to oblige. From Susan Alexandrasfrog-themed Passover collection to the Collina Strada x Redouxfrog candle and these $510frog shoes from JW Anderson and Wellipets, the frog motif is the new frontier in home decor. (Theres even a song on the new 100 gecs album calledFrog on the Floor in case youve been seeking a replacement for all thoseCrazy Frog bangers that defined the aughts.) To me thistrend feels like a natural progression from cottagecore as people feel inspired to further explore their most feral forest fantasies.

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Did you know that theres a frog decor tag onWayfair? The hashtag for #frogcore has accumulated 90.3 million views onTikTok while Instagram has 137,000 posts and counting. As one of the tentpoles ofgoblincore, the frog is a mythical creature with origins that can be traced back toancient folklore and fairy tales. According toSave the Frogs, a nonprofit organization dedicated to amphibian conservation,early Aztec civilizations viewed the toad as the earth mother goddess, who governed the cycle of death and rebirth.Based on what I could dissect from the Internet, these amphibians embody wealth, abundance, and loss preventionseeing as to how we find ourselves in the midst of arecession, we could certainly benefit from more of that energy in our lives. Hillary Taymour, founder of Collina Strada, also notes that frogs symbolize wisdom, intuition, humble power, and potential in many cultures.

This Russian frog sculpture that doubles as a box was part of the late Truman Capotes zoo of miniature animal sculptures on view inside his New York City apartment.

As someone who has always had a soft spot forfrogs (Frog and Toad, Kermit, and Pepe before he was tragically seized by the alt-right), Im delighted to see thefrogcore aesthetic unfold. Its no secret thatIve kissed my fair share of toads in this lifetime, but you might be surprised to learn that I went through a frog phase during my childhood. I even had a pet tree frog named Tiny, a birthday gift I got when I was in the fifth grade. (Im still devastated by the unsolved case of his disappearance which occurred while I was at themall with my friends. All signs point to my dadonly he knows what happened on that fateful day and he refuses to fess up.) While the moment was fleeting, the exhilarating feeling has never been forgottenthis pivotal scene from the Royal BalletsTales of Beatrix Potter really captures the vibe. (Other fond memories include dining at the shuttered restaurant chain Rib-It which feels like afever dream.)

Im now convinced that my frog fascination was partially reawakened when Instagram started targeting me with memes from @frogwitch throughout the pandemic, and once you open that box, its a slippery slope! Is reverse gatekeeping a thing? Because I would happily force my passion and love for frogs and toads onto everyone if given the chance, saysMandee Klahn, the artist behind the popular silly frog art account. The Indiana native recalls how herotherworldly connection with the cute critters began during childhood when she would catch and release frogs in the retention ditch that separated her backyard from a cornfield.

A frog meme that reads Please do not ask what I am doing, I am still not sure if I even exist.

A toad meme that reads No email has ever found me well.

I dont think anyone from the Midwest can deny that the sound of amphibians croaking was the unofficial sound of summer break, Mandee writes in an email. I dont want to speak for all people, but I think a lot of humansincluding myselfare currently craving the carefree feelings of childhood. Frogs and toads are just part of that.

Hillary has been using flora and fauna as the base for all of the Collina Strada collections since launching her label in 2008, so the inclusion of frogs was welcome with their diversity of colors, sizes, and patterns. (At the moment, her personal favorite is the lipstick false dart frog.) I used to catch tadpoles in creeks around my house when I was little so I guess I was always into frogs, the designer recalls in an email. Im happy for frogs, they deserve the spotlight! I love involving fun, pet-like elements into my wardrobes. Why not carry afrog bag?

A campaign image for the Redoux x Collina Strada frog candle collaboration.

The pink baby frog candle is infused with Redouxs cult favorite 529 scent.

Despite having a long history of spreading good fortune, there is also a dark side to frogs and toads that needs to be addressed. Europeans, Egyptians, and Jews associated them with plagues, droughts, and pure evil. This narrative was the inspiration forSusan Alexandras latest collection which features frog decor in the form of candlesticks, ramekins, wine glasses, napkin rings, and seder plates. Im partial to all pond critters, but frogs to me are extra adorable, she writes in an email. Ive been leaning into the frog motif in my designs partially due to what they represent from a fairy tale perspective (frog prince!) and also because of what they stand for in terms of Passover.

Playing on the plague of frogs theme that is affiliated with the holiday, the designer was dazzled by the idea of something as serious and sacred as a seder plate featuring the joyful frog ramekins and matching frog wine glasses. In the press release, Susan also mentioned that its healing to be able to shift the narrative around the past and find humor in darkness.

Back in 1969, visitors were greeted by a ceramic frog at the front foyer of photographer Max Eckerts house.

Of the many things thatJacqueline Kennedy Onassis is idolized for, her obsession withJean Rogers cartoonish frog planters remains high up on my list, along with thelettucewareand her stamp of approval is top-tier! One of my favorite finds within this niche category is thisGoodnight Frog puzzle by the artistMaybelle Equay. We cant glaze over the fact that frog art has insane range, Mandee argues. It can be extremely kitschy to everything in between to serious. There is truly something that appeals to everyone. Range like the little old lady that is collecting frogs made of seashells that she gets from various beach town gift shops to the person that is hanging professional macro photography of frogs from the rainforest in their new condo to the person with the MILF: Man I Love Frogs bumper sticker on their Honda Accord.

All I know is that once you embrace the weird, whimsical world of the frog, something inside you starts glowing. Perhaps the pathtoward finding inner peace is a process of curating the pond within? Even though we cycle through creature trends, like the very chic shrimp kitsch of 2022, Susan firmly believes that2023 is the year of the frog. I think there are groups of us who like to have fun with splashing semi absurdist themes all over clothes and accessories, and I happen to be one of them.

Small Antique Fiddling Frog Advertising Lithograph Print

Harlequin Wood Frog Wallpaper Roll

Wallpaper Republic Amazonian Frogs Wallpaper

Scalamandre Calabassas Frog Island Cloth Fabric

Urban Outfitters Cowboy Frog Bath Mat

Collina Strada x Redoux Small Pink Frog Candle

Susan Alexandra Frog Glasses

Mackenzie Childs Frog Salt & Pepper Set

Chairish Limoges Rochard Porcelain Frog Trinket Box

Vintage Italian Art Pottery Frog Candlestick

Bordallo Pinheiro Green Frogs Embossed Serving Salad Bowl

Frog Serving Platter & Utensils

Frog on Lily Pad Decoupage Glass Plate

Vintage Frog Ceramic Tea Set

Vintage Carousel Frog

Mackenzie Childs Fergal the Frog Butler

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Frog Decor Is Living in My Head Rent-Free - Architectural Digest

Earlier this March, a professor at Palm Beach Atlantic University, a private Christian institution in Florida, lost his job after a parent complained about a racial justice unit in his course. He had taught that same unit for 12 years.

Also in March, a conservative judge, invited to speak by Stanford Law Schools chapter of the Federalist Society, was shouted down by students who said his court rulings caused harm to LGBTQ+ students, and that giving him a platform on campus compromised their safety. The law schools associate dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion took the mic during the protest to question whether the talk was worth the pain . . . and the division that this causes?

That same week, on the opposite coast, South Carolina lawmakers battled over whether to stop funding diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at state colleges. These are only some of the political controversies on college campuses that have made national news this month.

Schools and campuses have often been the battleground for American culture wars. From debates about teaching evolution to racial segregation, interested parties with diverging ideologies have sought to influence school curricula, policies, and practices. These ideological tensions show up as efforts to ban books and disqualify curricular resources containing disputed subject matter. Schools have fired educators from both sides of the political spectrum for expressing political views in the classroom and on social media.

Is there a better way for us to navigate our disagreements? At the Constructive Dialogue Institute, our goal is to help people communicate across lines of difference and work together to solve complex problems. In todays political climate, divisions may feel insurmountable. But the results from our new online learning program suggest there is reason for hope.

When we founded the Constructive Dialogue Institute in 2017, we were alarmed by what appeared to be rapidly rising political tension across communities, including education. At that time, our cofounderssocial psychologist Jonathan Haidt and social entrepreneur Caroline Mehlwere both at New York University Stern School of Business. They, like other educators, felt the impact of national politics flooding college campuses. Conservative student groups were inviting alt-right speakers, and liberal student groups were resorting to shout-downs and protests to silence the same speakers. In some instances, tensions peaked to the point of violence. In classrooms, discussions ranging from corporate responsibility to gender identity and gay marriage were devolving into shouting matches.

The conflict created an almost unbearable sense of tension around campus, where staff, students, and faculty alike felt they were walking on eggshells. Many, understandably, chose to steer clear of any controversial topics; it was the safer choice. But that response seemed to undermine something fundamental, core, and sacred to higher education. Isnt college precisely the place to encounter new ideas and explore diverse viewpoints? At one time or another, havent we all questioned our belief systems, identity labels, and affiliations? Its a critical part of self-exploration and figuring out our place and purpose in the world.

We were also afraid that what we witnessed on campuses was tapping into deeply wired and detrimental human tendencies to seek comfort and only associate with those who mirror ourselves. Evolutionary psychologists have been aware of the human instinct for tribalism for decadespeople intuitively define the world through us versus them, with tribes relentlessly jostling for status.

Throughout Haidts career, his research centered on these topics. He uncovered how polarization develops and the solutions used by groups and societies to navigate conflict. There seemed to be a way out through behavioral science: The answer was that collaboration and problem solving across differences become more possible when people use dialogue and reframe their conversation goals as achieving mutual understanding, rather than winning.

Not all issues lend easily to compromise, and not all problems have neatly packaged solutions. But we believe that adopting tools to practice dialogue and learn about the root of our ideological differences is a feasible way to learn, work, and live together thoughtfully, even in the face of challenges.

In an effort to make those tools available to more people, we distilled the key ideas from behavioral science into an online learning program, called Perspectives, made of short, interactive lessons (think Noom, but for politics). We pulled from cognitive psychology, moral psychology, political psychology, conflict resolution, negotiation, and mediation. We also provided opportunities for people to pair up with one another and practice communication skills.

In Perspectives, students learn to recognize moral beliefs that they share, even with people they disagree with. They review research findings indicating that most Americans have distorted perceptions of the other side. They learn to ask questions to understand each other, share the life experiences that have shaped their views, and establish a collaborative goal with others even when in conflict.

To test whether Perspectives worked, we recruited 775 college students across 10 courses at three U.S. universities. We randomly assigned some students to take Perspectives and some students to not, and we measured their attitudes and beliefs before and after.

The group who took Perspectives were more likely to recognize that their knowledge was limitedsomething psychologists call intellectual humility. They also expressed less contempt for people who were different from them politically. And, finally, they were less likely to verbally attack others when they encountered conflict.

These results mirrored the stories we heard from educators all over the country, who are able to access Perspectives online for free. Instructors have emailed us saying Perspectives was the most impactful thing they did with their students, and that it enabled them to have respectful disagreements about restrictions on free speech on campus, structural inequities, and poverty. One instructor said, Theres too much at stake to not get these conversations right.

Perspectives provided a platform and the skills for students and educators to talk about topics that really matter, and, because of this, it changed the atmosphere of classrooms. Students who were previously silent started talking. Students who were steadfast in their opinions started listening. Students whose emotions boiled learned to take a deep breath before speaking. And they made friendsthese conversations allowed them to pull back layers and get to know each other in a meaningful way.

One student from Waterloo wrote to us: I felt that my [conversation] partner really accepted me and my opinions for who I am, without being judgmental or dismissing. I also feel that I did the same with her. We offered suggestions for improvement and other thought patterns to each other when we took turns sharing. We also found that we shared a lot in common even with our differences.

The most powerful stories came from those who encountered differences. One of our learners is a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) trainer. During one of her training sessions, she encountered resistance from a participant. She wrote to us:

I think old me would have been annoyed, but instead I immediately approached him, and we got into a meaningful conversation about if DEI matters. I asked him a lot of questions to better understand why he didnt feel the content was so relevant to his particular community and I also shared my perspective on why it matters to me and my community. . . . He said he felt [DEI] puts an emphasis on the differences we have rather than the similarities. In my four years here, I never heard that perspective and I am also not sure that me four years ago would have had the skills to try to understand where he was coming from. I completely heard his view that this could be othering and made me wonder if there was a better way . . . we made a true impact on one another and it is the first time in a while I felt like I was able to engage in a productive way with someone who felt so opposite of me. We were so committed to being honest and thoughtful with each other.

We think part of the effectiveness of Perspectives is that the skills are based in psychological science and are useful across multiple facets of lifeat home, at school, and in relationships. We have distilled these into five principles of constructive dialogue:

1. Let go of winning. Approaching a conversation like a zero-sum battle, where one side wins and the other loses, sets up an adversarial dynamic that will lead the other persons defenses to go up. This dynamic minimizes the possibility of learning, and it often damages relationships. Recognize that by striving to win, you are actually setting yourself up for failure. Instead, try entering conversations with intellectual humility, curiosity, and the goal to understand. You will find it can be contagious.

2. Share your story and invite others to do the same. Research from psychology and political science consistently demonstrates that people rarely change their minds about deeply held beliefs because of facts. Rather, sharing stories about personal experiences can be a powerful way to open up new paths of understanding. Focus on discussing issues through your own experience of themwhy an issue is important to you or how an issue affects you. Try to draw out those same insights from others.

3. Ask questions to understand. Expressing intellectual humility through questions is a powerful way to deepen a conversation. But questions can shut down dialogue as easily as they can promote it. Think about the difference between, How can you possibly think that? and Can you tell me more about what led you to this view? The first likely puts someone on the defensive, while the second may open up a new avenue of conversation. Be intentional about asking nonjudgmental questions that invite meaningful reflection.

4. Acknowledge the role of emotions. Often validating someones feelings about an issue can provide a spark that builds into trust and mutual understanding. It is not always easy, though. Imagine acknowledging someones strong emotions about a view you really oppose; for example, I can see that protecting the unborn is really important to you. This can feel quite unnatural. Doing so does not mean youre endorsing their view, but rather it acknowledges the very real feelings they have and makes them feel heard. This can build trust and may lead them to be more open to your perspective.

5. When possible, seek common ground. Common ground can be found in a variety of placesfrom small things like shared interests to large things like shared goals or agreement that a particular value matters. For example, two people who disagree about the solutions to homelessness can still agree that it is an important societal problem. Small or large, the connections that common ground creates can be building blocks for forging strong relationships and identifying additional points of connection.

Since we launched in 2017, we have reached 60,000 learners. Even though these learning modules were developed for college students, a lot of people and communities took an interest. We saw high school teachers, religious organizations, and workplaces searching for solutions to interpersonal problems and finding them in our dialogue tools.

We know there is much more to do. In many ways, the polarization we see in our country is a manifestation of our age-old human problemthe drive to separate ourselves into clans and to prove that our clan is superior to others. The difference is that now, we understand where these instincts come from, and, thankfully, we have some tools that can help.

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Five Ways to Have More Constructive Disagreements - Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley

In April 2019,The New York Times published a three-part investigation about the legacy ofRupert Murdoch that, among a number of juicy revelations, exposed the media moguls attempts to ease tensions among his children through group therapy sessions, including a therapeutic retreat at the family ranch in Australia. Roughly nine months earlier, a very similar scene played out on television screens during the first season ofSuccession. In Austerlitz, the HBO dramas seventh episode, the fictional Roy family begrudgingly gathered in New Mexico for a therapy session after middle son Kendalls failed attempt to knock his father, Logan, from poweronly to discover that the whole gathering was a publicity stunt.

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Successions creative team might not have realised they were so closely mirroring reality when they filmed that episode, but the goal has always been to tell a story that felt like it could be happening in real life too. If you read theFinancial Times andWall Street Journal, youd have a good sense of where we thought the show would go because its trying to reflect the world, show creator Jesse ArmstrongtoldThe New Yorker in February, when he also announced thatSuccessions upcoming fourth season would be its last. Indeed, many ofSuccessions characters and plotlines can be traced back to real people and events. Over the years, the show has employed journalists and writersmedia columnistFrank Rich is an executive producer, and novelistGary Shteyngart and business journalistMerissa Marr have served as consultantsto aid in the accuracy of its world-building.

Successions third season ended more than a year ago with the often at-odds Roy siblingsKendall (Jeremy Strong), Shiv (Sarah Snook), and Roman (Kieran Culkin)teaming up to try to stop their father (Brian Cox) from selling the family business. But an eleventh-hour heel turn from Shivs husband, Tom (Matthew Macfadyen), foiled their plans. HBO is keeping a tight lid on the events of the shows final seasonbeyond dropping a few breadcrumbs ina new trailerbut if previous seasons are any indication, there will be more than a few similarities to recent current events. Ahead, a breakdown of the real-world influences for the fictional world ofSuccession.

Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy, Sarah Snook as Shiv Roy, and Kieran Culkin as Roman Roy.

Armstrong has said that he drew fromseveraldynastic familiesincluding the Redstones, the Sulzbergers, and the Hearstswhen creating the Roys. But none appear to have been more influential than the Murdochs. In fact, Armstrong first beganmining the lives of the rich and powerful for satire with a screenplay calledMurdoch, which imagined the family convening for the birthday of Rupert Murdoch. Itmade the rounds in Hollywood, even landing on the Black List of top unproduced screenplays in2010, but was never made.

Armstronghas said thatMurdoch is deeply in the background ofSuccession,its clear that his work on the former informed the latter. Like the Murdochs, the Roys are a patriarchal family with control over a large media conglomerate. Waystar Royco, which the Roys like to boast is the fifth-largest media company in the world, controls a Fox Newsesque conservative cable network called ATN; several newspapers; and a theme park and cruise ship business. Murdoch, meanwhile, has prevailed over News Corpa powerful print media business whose tentacles reach as far as the UK and Australiaand an entertainment business that, at its height, included broadcast and cable networks, a film and television studio, a live entertainment division, and an Indian television provider.

Even the family structures of the Murdochs and the Roys are similar. Rupert Murdoch has six children from his first three marriages, including an older daughter,Prudence, who has largely avoided wading into the power struggle that has consumed the three children from his second marriage:Elisabeth,Lachlan, andJames. The Roy Family, meanwhile, is made up of oldest son Connor (Alan Ruck)who instead of working for the family business announces a presidential campaign in the second seasonand his three younger siblings, who each believe they have what it takes to succeed their father as CEO of Waystar Royco.

Rupert Murdoch put to rest the succession questions swirling around his family in 2017, when he announced that he would sell much of his entertainment assets to Disney in adeal worth $71.3 billion.Following the sale, his oldest son, Lachlan, was named CEO of adiminished Fox Corp. In season three ofSuccession, Logan made a similar play, revealing that instead of naming one of his children as his successor, he planned to sell the company to (fictional) tech giant GoJo.

Holly Hunter as Rhea Jarrell, and Cherry Jones as Nan Pierce.

The introduction of the Pierce family in season two allowed Armstrong and his creative team to create an old-money foil for the nouveau riche Roys. Led by matriarch Nan Pierce (Cherry Jones), the Pierces operate a multi-billion media company that owns left-leaning news network PGM. Those blue-blooded fucks, as Logan calls them, appear to be a blend ofpublishing families the Sulzbergers and the Bancrofts.

The Sulzberger family owns TheNew York Times, passing the role of publisher down to each new generation. (A.G. Sulzberger is the newspaper of records current publisher.) The Bancrofts, meanwhile, are the Boston socialites who soldWall Street Journal owner Dow Jones & Company to Murdochs News Corporation in 2007. InSuccessions second season, Logan makes his own move to acquire Pierce Global Media, but isnt as successful as his real-life counterpartthough the trailer for season four suggests Nan and her haughty clan will be back for a final showdown.

Alexander Skarsgrd as Lukas Matsson.

ThoughSuccession has occasionally ventured into the world of tech (see Vaulter below), it remained largely focused on legacy media until the introduction ofAlexander Skarsgrds temperamental tech mogul in season three. The billionaire CEO of streaming powerhouse GoJo enters the story first as a potential acquisition target. But by the end of the season, its clear that he has bigger aims from his dealings with the Roys. Because ofSkarsgrds Swedish heritage, themost obvious likely inspiration for his character is Spotify cofounder and CEODaniel Ekeven if GoJo appears to be a mix of Netflix, FanDuel, and Facebook. Matssons ruthless dealmakingand erratic tweetingsuggest hes also modelled at least in part onElon Musk.

Introduced in the third season, during a secretive Republican conclave where the partys leadersincluding Logan and his childrenselect their next presidential candidate, Jeryd Mencken (Justin Kirk) isSuccessions take on what comes afterDonald Trump. The shows sitting presidenta man never shown and only ever referred to as The Raisinseems to be a composite of Trump and a more traditional conservative president, and Gil Eavis (Eric Bogosian), the Democratic senator who wants to hire Shiv in season two, is an apparentBernie Sandersstand-in. Mencken, meanwhile, is an alt-right congressman whom Shiv refers to as a YouTube provocateur, suggesting the writers modelled him after conservative media personalities likeJordan Peterson and members of the far-right Freedom Caucus. Mencken is considered a dark horse in the presidential race until Logan decides to back him, perhaps a reference to Murdochs then close alliance with Trump.

The digital-media start-up that appeared during the first two seasons ofSuccession was so clearly modelled after Vice Media that even the struggling publisher had toacknowledge the similarities. The edgy internet publisher founded by Lawrence Yee (Rob Yang) that sold to Waystar Royco had all the hallmarks of mid-2000s new media brands, from the sleek open floor plan office to the company-owned beehives. Eventhe articles that Vaulter publishes5 Reasons Why Drinking Milk on the Toilet Is Kind of a Game-Changer and Wait, Is Every Taylor Swift Lyric Secretly Marxist?would feel right at home on the BuzzFeed or Gawker websites of yore. And Kendalls interest in the company even provides more evidence that the Roys are inspired by the Murdochs; James Murdochjoined the Vice board in 2013 after Fox acquired a stake in the business.

Though Vaulter doesnt survive its saleor the pivot-to-video era that rocked every major media outletSuccession isnt entirely done skewering the digital-media world. Keep an eye out for a not-so-subtle dig at sites like Axios and Semafor in theupcoming season.

This article first appeared on Vanityfair.com

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Succession: The real people who inspired the HBO hit - VOGUE India

27 March 2023

Numerous presenters have their own video channels on Rumble

A supporter of Donald Trump made headlines last year when he said: "We are uncancellable by big tech."

The defiant claim came from Devin Nunes, who is the chief executive of Trump Media and Technology Group, the firm set up by Mr Trump in 2021 to run his social media app Truth Social.

His defiance is not based on the technology of Truth Social, rather it relies on a relatively unknown Canadian internet company called Rumble.

Rumble started out in 2013 as a video-streaming website. While that is still its main focus, in recent years it has branched into web-hosting - offering computing services for companies like Truth Social.

Rumble's main website is based around short videos, very much in the same style of YouTube

Aiming one day to rival the likes of Google and Facebook, what makes Rumble controversial is its pledge to rally against censorship, and allow freedom of speech as much as possible.

As a result of this, Rumble has become the home to a great many video channels - more often politically conservative - where people can say things that might get them kicked off other social media sites, like YouTube and Twitter.

A US-Canadian comedian and political commentator called Steven Crowder is a case in point. He is now predominantly to be found on Rumble after YouTube temporarily suspended him in 2021 for breaking its rules on "hate speech". This followed comments he made on transgender issues.

Rumble is now at the forefront of so-called "alt-tech" - internet service providers and social media sites that critics say are popular with conspiracy theorists and the alt-right.

But for Rumble's supporters, such as Mr Nunes, who moved Truth Social across to Rumble's infrastructure last year, it means "we are not relying on any tech tyrants".

Mr Nunes is on one side of a debate about how social media should be managed.

In one camp there are those who advocate for greater content moderation. They say that sites like Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube need to make a greater effort to tackle hate speech and misinformation on their platforms.

On the other side are the people who argue this has become too politicised, and see it as censorship.

For years, the battle has largely been played out on the big social media websites. Now, companies like Rumble are trying to change that.

In a note on its website, Rumble chief executive Chris Pavlovski wrote: "Rumble is creating the rails to a new infrastructure that will not be bullied by cancel culture."

In this vision of the future, there would be a rival, alternative internet, making its own rules. Yet at the same time, Rumble denies that it only attracts users with right-wing viewpoints.

It described itself to the BBC as a "neutral platform that welcomes a wide variety of views". For example, Rumble is now home to left-leaning UK comedian turned political commentator Russell Brand.

What is undeniable is that Rumble's user numbers have risen sharply in recent years, at the same time as its bigger rivals have raised their content moderation efforts. For example, in 2020, YouTube removed more than 34 million videos around the world. These included videos deemed to be harassment, incitement to violence, hate speech or misinformation.

"People get kicked off the major platforms, and they don't disappear," says Evelyn Douek, assistant professor at Stanford Law School, and an expert on the regulation of online speech. "They look for a new home."

Image source, Evelyn Douek

Prof Douek says Rumble will likely face legislation that forces it to censor more

There was a market opportunity and Rumble took it, emphasising its commitment to "free speech". Its monthly active user count reportedly jumped from 1.6 million in mid-2020 to 33 million at the start of 2021.

Prof Douek says that the events of 6 January 2021, when thousands of demonstrators stormed the US Capitol Building, gave Rumble and its plans for an independent internet a boost. She says the aftermath was "one of the radicalising moments for alt-tech".

She points in particular to Parler - a twitter-like platform popular with Trump supporters - being removed from the Apple and Google app stores. Parler's website was also dropped by Amazon, upon whose cloud-based Amazon Web Services servers it had been based.

"Losing access to the cloud and losing access to these app stores can really hamstring a platform," says Prof Douek. She adds that the episode showed people in the alt-tech space that their apps and websites couldn't rely on mainstream internet providers.

So, Rumble has been building its own infrastructure, which also includes its own advertising and payments-processing technology. To help fund all this, the firm raised $400m last year when it floated on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York.

British comedian Russell Brand, left, moved to Rumble from YouTube a year ago

However, Prof Douek says there are big challenges ahead for Rumble. Perhaps most pressingly, while it might not want to censor content, governments may legislate to force it to.

"We have seen a proliferation of legislation, bills, proposals over the last few years from governments around the world," says Prof Douek. "The big package - possibly the most consequential - is the European Digital Services Act."

This is due to fully come into force in 2024, and Prof Douek says it may mean that Rumble has to change the way it operates in the EU, including publishing more information about how it's applying the rules.

Rumble has already shown that it will fight what it sees as government overreach. When the French government told it to remove Russian state broadcasters from its platform, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Rumble refused.

New Tech Economy is a series exploring how technological innovation is set to shape the new emerging economic landscape.

Rumble is also in a legal battle with Google, which it accuses of "unfairly rigging its search algorithms" towards YouTube, which Google owns. Google counters that Rumble content is ranked as highly as it deserves on the search engine.

"This is going to be years of litigation," says Prof Douek. "There are going to be fights... and I don't know what our internet is going to look like in a few years as a result of these."

As the alt-tech space develops, some think the internet could divide further into political spheres - left and right.

"Do I think that it is a good future if we have red platforms and blue platforms?," says Prof Douek, referring to the colours of the two main political parties in the US. "I don't think that that is necessarily how we want public debate to play out."

Katerina Eva Matsa, an associate director at the Pew Research Centre think tank in New York, says that while people with different politics "are living in very different media worlds", there is also "overlap".

Pew recently conducted a study into alternative social media sites, including Rumble and six of its peers - BitChute, Gab, Gettr, Parler, Telegram, and Truth Social. It found that nearly three quarters of Americans who consume news on these sites also get news from YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter.

"So they haven't completely abandoned the larger sites," says Ms Matsa.

This raises questions about how separate a potential future alternative internet ecosystem would be, if its user base straddles both alt-tech and the mainstream.

"I think it's a very difficult space to pinpoint whether we're going into further polarisation or less," Ms Matsa adds. "We honestly don't know the outcome."

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The web firm that wants to stop you getting 'cancelled' - BBC

Is every Dutch farmer an elected official now? Not quite, but the Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB) secured a massive victory in last weeks provincial elections in the Netherlands. Despite the countrys farmers only making up around 1 percent of the population, it is now the largest party in every provincial legislature. These newly elected provincial legislators will in turn elect the upper chamber in May and make the BBB the largest party there, with around 17 of 75 seats.

These results represent yet another convulsion on the right of the Dutch political spectrum. It is a remarkable debut for a party that is not currently represented in the Senate, and the second time in a row that a new party has become the largest party in the Dutch Senate after the radical-right Forum for Democracys surprise win in 2019. BBB leader Caroline van der Plasher first name pronounced as one would in English, which in the Netherlands is a marker of coming from the non-elite classesfounded the BBB that year in cooperation with a marketing agency for the agricultural industry. Van der Plas was the partys sole elected official at the start of this week, having won a seat in Parliament in the 2021 general election. The party has presented itself as the voice of the forgotten man, as one does, in particular if that man (or woman) resides outside the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-The Hague-Utrecht megapolis known as the Randstad.

The partys signature policy issue is opposition to planned curbs on nitrogen emissions. This may sound like a niche issue, but last summer was marked by widespread farmer protests against the restrictions that could count on the sympathy of significant numbers of voters, especially outside the Randstad. The urban-rural cleavage is easily visible in Wednesdays election results. For example, the BBB finished in eighth position in the city of Utrecht, in the urban core, with 5.2 percent of the vote, while still winning the province. In contrast, the largely rural province of Overijssel gave it 31.3 percent of the vote, almost four times the vote share of its closest competitor. To be clear, there are significant numbers of voters who care passionately about environmental policy on the other side of the issue as well. While the GreenLeft and the Party for the Animals may have secured only 11.1 percent of the vote in Overijssel, they were the options selected by 31 percent of voters in Utrecht.

While most of the attention will go to the newcomers dramatic victory, the results have important implications for long-standing Prime Minister Mark Rutte, in office since 2010, and his centrist government as well. His coalition consists of the prime ministers center-right Peoples Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), the once-almighty Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), the social liberals of Democrats 66 (D66), and the do-gooder Protestants of the increasingly diverse Christian Union.

The new composition of the Senate may complicate the governments ability to secure majorities for its legislative initiatives there, especially in areas like immigration and environmental policy. At the same time, ironically, it solidifies Ruttes indispensable position at the heart of Dutch politics. It is harder than ever to see how anyone but him will be able to cobble together a majority in Parliament, the dominant lower chamber of the States General, in the foreseeable future. From todays vantage point, the longest-serving prime minister in Dutch history looks like he could remain prime minister for another decade if he chooses to. After all, at only 56 years old he would be one of the younger U.S. senators.

Wednesdays results were a shock to the political system, but not a surprise. BBB had been polling well and van der Plas is omnipresent in the Dutch media. At the same time, the most prominent representative of the previous (and third, since the turn of the century) wave of populism on the Dutch right imploded after its 2019 victories. Opposition to an association agreement between the European Union and Ukraine brought Thierry Baudet and his Forum for Democracy (FvD) party into the limelight in the marquee national conservative year of 2016 and eventual big wins in 2019 in both provincial and Senate elections.

Since 2019, the FvD has experienced constant turmoil triggered by Baudets stances on vaccines (opposed) and Putin (not so much), and by widespread antisemitism and white nationalism within the party. In just three years, 11 of its 12 senators, as well as almost half of its MPs and all of its elected MEPs, have left the FvD, leaving space for new entrants on the right. The Farmer-Citizen Movement has filled much of that space for now, and then seats, representing the most heavily online denizens of the alt-right, with obsessions not that different from their Anglo-Saxon counterparts. The earlier second wave of Dutch right-wing populism, driven by anti-immigrant and anti-Islam sentiment, has not gone away, either: Geert Wilderss Party for Freedom (PVV) held on to four seats in the Senate this week, speaking for voters whose personality is that they dislike Muslims.

And even the first wave retains a presence: An FvD spinoff called JA-21 will occupy three Senate seats. Its leader in Parliament was first elected in 2002 on the List Pim Fortuyn ticket, shortly after Pim Fortuyn himself was assassinated by an animal rights activist. The List Pim Fortuyn was similar in some ways to the BBB, playing off general discontent with the functioning of the public sector without alienating the center-right entirely, though it lacked the BBBs rural orientation. JA-21 is perhaps best characterized as a party for folks who enjoy all the right-wing populist stuff, but only if served with a side of respectability politics. All these different niche flavors of right-wing populism add up, and these three parties combined will occupy nine seats in the new Dutch Senate. Add in the BBB and you are at 25, a third of the total, all to the governments right.

The governing coalition has been reduced to 22 Senate seats. All but three of the remaining senators are to the coalitions left. To pass legislation, the government will need to be able to count on the support of at least 16 senators in addition to their own. That is not necessarily a problemin his 13 years as prime minister, Rutte has had a Senate majority for just two years. There are two natural paths for passing legislation in the new Senate. One is to convince the Labour Party and the GreenLeft, who will caucus together, plus one additional senator from the number of parties present under the Dutch system of proportional representation. The other one is to appeal to BBB. How much use will be made of the latter route remains to be seen and will depend on the new partys internal stability and whether it manages or even strives to become a serious governing partner. The BBB route will be difficult if not impossible in key areas such as environmental policy or immigration.

Regardless, the results represent a further narrowing down of the broad center that has long dominated Dutch politics and a rightward drift. And that is what really drives Ruttes strong, in fact strengthened, position. With the CDA decimated and D66 (let Labour, the GreenLeft, the Party for the Animals, the left-neoliberals of Volt or the anti-racists of Bij1) unwilling to govern with parties to the VVDs right, there is no future coalition in sight that gets anywhere near a majority in Parliament without Rutte and the VVD. (Unless Rutte becomes secretary-general of NATO, in which case all bets are off.)

Now, to be fair, Rutte does not have an immense amount of choice in the matter, either. If this weeks results or something close to them were to materialize in the next general election, he would have to cobble together a coalition of six or so parties, and beggars cant be choosers.

None of this is particularly helpful either for those looking for electoral competition or political accountability. Ruttes previous government fell over a scandal at the tax agency involving the relentless hounding, partially on ethnic grounds, of low-income families that in many cases were permanently torn apart. With no alternative in sight, the same prime minister, leading the same coalition, was back in the saddle soon enough.

Earlier this week on a podcast about that sleeping giant of Dutch soccer, NAC Breda, one of the hosts insulted the players, was reprimanded by his co-host, and immediately apologized. Just like Rutte, was the response. As a friend joked on Election Day: The only thing Rutte hasnt apologized for is his apology for the Dutch role in the slave trade.

That does not change the fact that this seeming inevitability is convenient to the Netherlands allies and partners overseas. Just as it is hard to see an alternative to Rutte, it is difficult to imagine a move away from the current strong Dutch support for strengthening the EU, for preserving the transatlantic alliance, for arming and supporting Ukraine, for LGBT rights, for the climate transition, and for international law (such as it is). The waves of populism continue to lap at the shores, but the coastline remains the same.

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Dutch Elections Produce Another Popular Wave But the Same Prime ... - Foreign Policy