Free-speech site, touted as Facebook alternative, moving to Miami

The founders of a website known for hosting conservative and libertarian-leaning personalities announced Monday they had moved its headquarters to Miami.

The website, Locals.com, was co-created by online personality Dave Rubin. Rubin and co-founder Assaf Lev announced the move with Miami Mayor Francis Suarez in a “cafecito talk” posted on Suarez’s Twitter and YouTube pages.

The plan is to have a dozen employees in Miami within the next 12 months or so.

Miami “fits what tech is — tech is supposed to change things,” Rubin said in the talk. “When you have a city changing things, and you have a great mayor and a great governor, and it feels like — even just five days here, I feel like, wow, I’m in a place that is aligned with my values that has real meaning. You can’t put a price tag on that.”

Rubin was temporarily suspended last week from Twitter after writing, “They want a federal vaccine mandate for vaccines which are clearly not working as promised just weeks ago.” He later posted a message purportedly from Twitter saying the suspension had been an error.

In a May profile on the website Tablet.com, Rubin said, “The mob has come for me a million times and never won.”

“We’re going to be the place that unites everybody,” Suarez says in the talk. “We’re going to be the place where everyone feels comfortable — where the diversification is such that you can be here and have your family and feel welcome — feel safe.”

In a statement later, Suatez said:

“The recent announcement by Locals.com that they have chosen Miami as the location of their U.S. H.Q. is exciting news for our #MiamiTech Movement. Locals.com has shared that they are committed to making investments in both hiring local talent in addition to supporting local creators in Miami. A key part of Miami’s pursuit of becoming the ‘capital of capital’ includes cultural capital — and so we welcome platforms for the free expression of unique voices, insights and perspectives from our Miami.”

In an interview with The Spectator magazine in 2019, Rubin said, “We have three companies — Google, Twitter, and Facebook — that control most of our information. We got everything free for 20 years, except they took our souls. We have no idea about the ways we’re being manipulated; through algorithm manipulation, through de-platforming, through shadowbanning.”

Locals, he said, would be the opposite.

“There’ll be communities for creators where they can do monthly subscriptions,” Rubin said. “They will own the content, and set their own rules within the communities they build. Locals won’t sell your data. There’ll be video and audio on there; feeds won’t be manipulated by algorithms.”

In an interview with the Miami Herald, Lev said Locals had no core political ideology other than free speech.

“Locals is a platform for every creator,” he said, adding that some of the more “libertarian free thinkers” have been more successful on the site. “We’re seeing all types of creators who want to have control back in their hands in response to cancel culture and censorship on Facebook and YouTube.”

Along with Rubin and Lev, Locals has a third co-founder, Andrew Conru, founder of Delray Beach-based FriendFinder Networks. FriendFinder Networks is known for hosting online dating and adult entertainment websites.

In an email, Conru confirmed his involvement.

“I’m one of the three founders of the company, funded the seed round, and personally wrote the original software for the company,” Conru said. “While I am no longer day-to-day, I remain an advisor and fellow advocate for free speech and truth in media. Assaf and Dave are doing a fantastic job at providing an independent platform for all viewpoints to be shared regardless of political affiliation.”

“I support their headquarters move to a state that seems more aligned with their values,” Conru added.

A Securities and Exchange Commission filing said Locals had raised nearly $4 million.