Right-Wing YouTube: A Supply and Demand Perspective

Munger, Kevin; Phillips, Joseph

doi:10.1177/1940161220964767

Cited by 103 publications

(107 citation statements)

References 101 publications

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“…There is some evidence that this algorithm can deliver increasingly extreme video content (Chaslot, 2018)—precisely the type of content that would be expected to generate moral-emotional reactions. However, it is also important to consider the role of politically extreme communities in placing extreme content online in the first place (Munger & Phillips, 2019). Social-media algorithms act as a significant filter that can increase the chances of some content drawing social feedback over others, and the interaction of content algorithms and people’s natural tendencies must be considered in explaining how social feedback shapes people’s online behavior.…”

Section: The Design Of Social Media Amplifies Attention To Moral-emotmentioning

confidence: 99%

The MAD Model of Moral Contagion: The Role of Motivation, Attention, and Design in the Spread of Moralized Content Online

Brady

Crockett

Bavel

2020

Perspect Psychol Sci

254

227

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With more than 3 billion users, online social networks represent an important venue for moral and political discourse and have been used to organize political revolutions, influence elections, and raise awareness of social issues. These examples rely on a common process to be effective: the ability to engage users and spread moralized content through online networks. Here, we review evidence that expressions of moral emotion play an important role in the spread of moralized content (a phenomenon we call moral contagion). Next, we propose a psychological model called the motivation, attention, and design (MAD) model to explain moral contagion. The MAD model posits that people have group-identity-based motivations to share moral-emotional content, that such content is especially likely to capture our attention, and that the design of social-media platforms amplifies our natural motivational and cognitive tendencies to spread such content. We review each component of the model (as well as interactions between components) and raise several novel, testable hypotheses that can spark progress on the scientific investigation of civic engagement and activism, political polarization, propaganda and disinformation, and other moralized behaviors in the digital age.

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Section: The Design Of Social Media Amplifies Attention To Moral-emotmentioning

confidence: 99%

The MAD Model of Moral Contagion: The Role of Motivation, Attention, and Design in the Spread of Moralized Content Online

Brady

Crockett

Bavel

2020

Perspect Psychol Sci

254

227

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…to utilise the same methods of de-platforming as they used on jihadist content (Conway, 2020). Each of the platforms in question have been noted as hosting extreme far-right material, for example: YouTube (O'Callaghan et al, 2015;Lewis, 2018;Ottoni et al, 2018;Munger and Phillips, 2020;Van Der Vegt et al, 2020),…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recommender systems and the amplification of extremist content

Whittaker¹,

Looney²,

Reed³

et al. 2021

Internet Policy Review

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Policymakers have recently expressed concerns over the role of recommendation algorithms and their role in forming "filter bubbles". This is a particularly prescient concern in the context of extremist content online; these algorithms may promote extremist content at the expense of more moderate voices. In this article, we make two contributions to this debate. Firstly, we provide a novel empirical analysis of three platforms' recommendation systems when interacting with far-right content. We find that one platform-YouTube-does amplify extreme and fringe content, while two-Reddit and Gab-do not. Secondly, we contextualise these findings into the regulatory debate. There are currently few policy instruments for dealing with algorithmic amplification, and those that do exist largely focus on transparency. We argue that policymakers have yet to fully understand the problems inherent in "de-amplifying" legal, borderline content and argue that a co-regulatory approach may offer a route towards tackling many of these challenges.

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“…More recently, two quantitative studies on YouTube radicalization have operationalized the category of "alt-lite" in their methodologies. Munger and Phillips' (2020) study on right-wing YouTube influencers included a typology of three kinds of channels: Conservatives, Alt-Lite, and Alt-Right. They define alt-lite as an ideologically mixed cluster of personalities who are united by their enjoyment of "racist and otherwise offensive humor as a means to antagonize and upset .…”

Section: Defining and Problematizing The "Alt-lite"mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These studies corroborate personal testimonies from those who have shared their stories of radicalization on the platform (Evans, 2018;Roose, 2019). Munger and Phillips (2020), however, find that audience demand has been underemphasized in discussions of online radicalization, and that since 2017, mainstream conservative creators have seen a rise in viewership while "alt-lite" and "alt-right" channels have seen a steep decline.…”

Section: Defining and Problematizing The "Alt-lite"mentioning

confidence: 99%

What is the “lite” in “alt-lite?” The discourse of white vulnerability and dominance among YouTube’s reactionaries

2021

Social Media + Society

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This article examines the discourse of “alt-lite” YouTube personalities in a North American context, with a focus on how whiteness is understood and represented. It argues that, despite their self-presentation as color-blind conservatives, these figures are firmly embedded within white supremacist ideology. A qualitative approach to content analysis is adopted to excavate the logics underlying these videos and to highlight the rhetorical tools at work. By framing themselves as the vulnerable targets of progressive movements, “alt-lite” personalities have helped to revive and legitimize a discourse of white victimhood. Their videos emphasize the historic dominance of “white culture” while bemoaning the current and future vulnerability of white people in a politically correct, social-justice-oriented world. Ultimately, the article argues that “alt-lite” figures are united by a set of mitigating rhetorical strategies, which are used to temper and obfuscate their reactionary views. These strategies include performatively aligning with one minority group to denigrate another; highlighting personal relationships with non-white people and knowledge of non-white cultures; embracing a color-blind worldview purportedly rooted in the civil rights movement; and maintaining ironic distance when espousing more overtly hateful racial stereotypes. The adoption of these strategies by right-wing micro-celebrities should not deter scholars and civil society groups from acknowledging when those same figures traffic in white supremacist rhetoric.

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Right-Wing YouTube: A Supply and Demand Perspective

Cited by 103 publications

References 101 publications

The MAD Model of Moral Contagion: The Role of Motivation, Attention, and Design in the Spread of Moralized Content Online

The MAD Model of Moral Contagion: The Role of Motivation, Attention, and Design in the Spread of Moralized Content Online

Recommender systems and the amplification of extremist content

What is the “lite” in “alt-lite?” The discourse of white vulnerability and dominance among YouTube’s reactionaries

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