Rumble promotes a video suggesting the Jacksonville shooting was a false flag among its selected “editor picks”

Written by Alex Kaplan

Research contributions from Natalie Mathes

Published

Rumble, the official streaming platform for the first and second 2024 Republican presidential primary debates, selected as one of its “editor picks” a video baselessly suggesting that the racist mass shooting in Jacksonville, Florida, may have been a false flag operation.

In the video, titled “MUGshot Sets Off False Flags ReeEEeE Stream 08-27-23,” the far-right figure “TheSaltyCracker” said that the Jacksonville shooting “could be a false flag” and that “the timing” of the event was “incredibly weird.” The video was listed in Rumble’s “editor picks” section, a list apparently curated to highlight specific videos available on the platform.

Rumble editors pick Jacksonville video

Screenshot of Rumble’s “editor picks” section taken on August 30, 2023

From an August 27, 2023, video streamed on Rumble

“THESALTYCRACKER” (HOST): If this situation is not an MK Ultra false flag, if this latest shooting isn’t an MK Ultra psyop — I know this sounds weird. I get that this sounds — I know, I know, I know. “Well, it’s a false flag.” I don't know if it’s a false flag. I just know that the timing of this is incredibly weird. I just know that you guys have dropped three manifestos for this shooter already. These bodies are still warm. You won’t give us the manifesto for any shooter that hurts your narrative, hurts your agenda. 

…

“No way that it could be a false flag.” Well, I mean, again, I think it could be a false flag.

Videos pushing other conspiracy theories, including the QAnon conspiracy theory and 9/11 Trutherism, have also appeared as “editor picks” in recent months, and, since the beginning of February, videos from TheSaltyCracker have appeared at least 260 times on the platform’s “Battle Leaderboard Top 50” — a prominently displayed ranking of the 50 most-liked videos from the previous 24 hours. Many of these videos from TheSaltyCracker feature extreme and bigoted rhetoric.