Locals Technology Inc., or locals.com, is a creator crowdfunding site cofounded by Dave Rubin and Assaf Lev. It started in 2019 and is based in New York City. The site was founded after Rubin and Jordan Peterson left Patreon in response to its banning of Carl Benjamin for paraphrasing hate speech. The startup raised just over $1 million from 10 506(b) private placement investors in March 2020. Locals announced further funding of $3.8 million on April 20, 2021 lead by Craft Ventures. The site deviates from the advertising and views model adopted by traditional social media, in favor of a paywall approach that seems to provide several benefits for both creators and consumers according to interviews. Assaf Lev is the President and CEO; Lev was previously an executive at QualiSystems. Andrew Conru is also a director. Locals was acquired by Rumble in October 2021. Notable creators Scott Adams Michael Malice Dave Rubin Tulsi Gabbard David Freiheit Andy Ngo Greg Gutfeld Zuby Zubin Damania (ZDoggMD) Patrick Byrne (previously of Overstock.com; grossing $1.5 million per year in 2021 Robert Barnes Paul Joseph Watson Kat Timpf Andrew Gruel Tammy Bruce Max Lugavere Yeonmi Park Michael Yon Liz Wheeler Dan Bongino Konstantin Kisin Jedediah Bila Charlie Kirk Alan Dershowitz Russell Brand Glenn Greenwald See also Thinkspot References External links Alt-tech 2019 establishments in New York City Financial services companies established in 2019 Internet properties established in 2019