The high cost of creating a conservative online space

One of the more interesting projects in tech today is the work being done to create conservative-leaning alternatives to major pieces of internet technology. Much of this

has centered around social networking, with projects like Parler and Gab and Gettr becoming well-known to folks who pay attention to new platforms.

But there are competitive businesses like a conservative service to replicate Stripe, a former President Donald Trump led technology company, and Rumble, which is challenging YouTube and the larger cloud.

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It’s not clear how well these efforts will fare in the long term. Taking on the largest and richest tech companies directly is ambitious, and most startups fail.

Some

notable individuals are involved. Well-known tech investor Peter Thiel backed Rumble, as did J.D. Vance, now a U.S. senator thanks in part to Thiel’s investment in his campaign. Rumble has parlayed its prominence in conservative circles to host Republican debates, exclusive content tailored to its audience, and sports-related content. The YouTube alternative has also snapped up conservative influencers, providing a sort of refuge from Google’s own offering for those disenchanted with what Big Tech has on offer.

It is good to have competition, and if some folks want to build tools and services that they think will resonate with an underserved audience, that’s great. But such efforts are often very expensive as new data from the Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) and Rumble show.

This morning, let’s analyze new data from TMTG and Rumble that will help us better understand how far-right-leaning social media services with long-term goals of building less restricted digital infrastructure are faring.

How much does that cost?

Rumble is a real company doing business as a publicly traded entity.

TMTG is a bit more nascent. Its SPAC presentation deck speaks about its potential, but its latest results reveal that the company is incredibly small.

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