PDF Publication Title:
Text from PDF Page: 005
The YouTube Algorithm and the Alt-Right Filter Bubble 89 By the time they were kicked off YouTube, Infowars had more than 2.4 million followers and 1.6 billion page views across 36,000 videos” (Evans, 2018). Like YouTube, Facebook uses a unique algorithm that serves up content to the user in their news feed that is predictably similar to their own searches and browsing clicks. The two online environments provide spaces where they could continue to explore and browse for hours and not encounter an opposing perspective. Similar to the findings of the researchers who visualized the data points of YouTube’s political channels, the Bellingcat investigator gives an example of one person who identified as “‘moderate republication’ before ‘Steven Crowder, Paul Joseph Watson, Milo Yiannopolos, Black Pidgeon Speaks,’ and other far-right YouTubers slowly red-pilled him. Over time he ‘moved further and further right until he could no longer stand them. That’s why he likes those groups even still, because if we just had the Fascists, we’d never convert anyone’” (Evans, 2018). American politics plays into this situation a great deal as we have seen with both the Harvard researcher’s data and Bellingcat. The racist viewpoints are connected inextricably to the topics of video games, feminism, LGBTQ, and a multitude of other political talking points. With President Donald Trump supporting groups like the alt-right, many hate groups have grown emboldened and more active during Trump’s presidency. Groups online that may have been niche, hidden, and remote have found footholds in lax hate speech policies such as Twitter’s and until recently, YouTube’s. These groups have created echo chambers where it is difficult to hear anything outside their own voices, espousing their hate speech in the anonymous, risk-free, public forum that the internet has provided. In a grouping of pure data taken from YouTube, a pair of researchers claimed, “we were able to identify a YouTube- created right-wing filter bubble. [...]YouTube’s algorithm connects them visibly via recommendations. It is, in this sense, an algorithmic version of the Thomas theorem, which famously suggested that, ‘If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences’” (Kaiser & Rauchfleisch, 2018). If a community such as the alt-right does have influence and control over a large chunk of YouTube’s content, does this reflect the views and beliefs of the people in the United States? After all, YouTube is as ubiquitous as the internet itself, the YouTube app coming standard on nearly every cell phone, tablet, and web enabled device, the videos available in the results screen of any Google search. The Bellingcat investigator shares some pop culture references that are used by the alt-right groups online and then reminds readers that, “it is important to remember that these groups have a body count and represent a real threat. Their absurdity does not negate their danger” (Evans, 2018). Many of the mass shooting attacks worldwide have been traced back to a small, thriving online community, the 8chan website, where users reinforce each others’ racist beliefs and claim violence as the only remedy. “The El Paso shooting follows a pattern carried out in Christchurch, New Zealand in March and in Poway, California in April. In both attacks, the suspects published manifestos to 8chan. Both manifestos were saturated with white nationalist talking points, portraying whites as the victims of a plan for elimination” (Hayden, 2019). 8chan, the anonymous message board site that is proud to be moderation free and allow their users completely free speech, even if those things are illegal. Because of this lenient policy, 8chan has attracted violent extremists from many groups that use the platform to organize and encourage each other’s malicious crimes. After the El-Paso shooting of a Walmart where 26 were injured and 22 people died, authorities reported that they were, “working to confirm the authenticity of, and any links between, the suspect and a manifesto published to the fringe internet platform 8chan in advance of the attack. The apparent manifesto refers to the ‘Hispanic invasion of Texas’” (Hayden, 2019). When the news of the El Paso shooting was released, one 8chan user wrote simply, “ACCELERATE, ACCELERATE,” while another joked, “Clean up in aisle 4!” (Hayden, 2019). The comment about cleaning up, can only be interpreted as the user’s attempt to dehumanize the victim and compare them to a broken or spilled item. The coaxing comments seen on 8chan could be exactly what a hesitant individual needs to enact real-life violence. In 2017 an independent survey found that only 9% of Americans found it acceptable to hold alt-right or Neo-Nazi views, while 50% of Americans found these views unacceptable (Langer, 2017). The surprising truth is that there appears to be small, vocal right-leaning groups online that produce a great deal of online content and much of that content is for YouTube. However, the majority of Americans are not supportive of alt-right, racist ideologies. There is danger in allowing our media to define a political spectrum that is not representative of the actual country. It allows the views of a vocal minority to be represented as a majorityPDF Image | YouTube Algorithm and the Alt-Right Filter Bubble
PDF Search Title:
YouTube Algorithm and the Alt-Right Filter BubbleOriginal File Name Searched:
The_YouTube_Algorithm_and_the_Alt-Right_Filter_Bub.pdfDIY PDF Search: Google It | Yahoo | Bing
Cruise Ship Reviews | Luxury Resort | Jet | Yacht | and Travel Tech More Info
Cruising Review Topics and Articles More Info
Software based on Filemaker for the travel industry More Info
The Burgenstock Resort: Reviews on CruisingReview website... More Info
Resort Reviews: World Class resorts... More Info
The Riffelalp Resort: Reviews on CruisingReview website... More Info
CONTACT TEL: 608-238-6001 Email: greg@cruisingreview.com (Standard Web Page)