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[Enduin]

There is a really easy solution to this:
https://www.youtube.com/feed/history

You can delete individual views and searches from your history that are used to make recommendations.

Yeah I know and do that, which is great for cleaning up my own feed but it doesn't really solve the bigger issue of the proliferation if this stuff across YouTube as a whole which helps spread this mindless nonsense and make it seem more mainstream and legitimate than it really is. Especially when you can get an avalanche of these recommendations without actually watching one of these Far Right videos. Just watching anything political or progressive by another YouTuber will often times result in several Far Right counter videos popping up. It just really gets crazy when you actually happen to watch one of the vids themselves.

I'm not going to call conspiracy or anything, but it's one of the few topics this happens with for me on YouTube. I can watch tons of random shit and my feed won't change much at all.

I can watch a bunch of Safiya Nygaard videos and I get jack shit recommendations for other beauty or women's fashion channels. I watch practically a documentary a night and only a few items will pop up.

But I watch a Tropes Vs video and then at least a few counter videos will start showing up and if I accidentally watch one of those charlatans it then seems to fill up every recommendation slot.

I can only assume it has to do with the Tags people attach to their videos that YouTube uses behind the scenes to help match you with like topics, among their other metrics. I wouldn't be surprised if these people spam a whole ton of different tags for their vids, which is why sometimes recommendations will come up even after not watching anything seemingly related.

There also just seems to be a ton of these people all over YouTube. From big channels that have tens of thousands of subscribers and post all the time, to an abundance of random channels that picked up a ton of views for going after one big topic or issue but don't really have all that much else.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

I wonder if this is what got my mom to vote Trump.

YouTube falls all over itself recommending "SJW Owned" videos every time I watch something political. There is a huge amount of this crap on YouTube and it's scary.

I feel like their algorithm has gotten slightly better lately. Feels like I get recommendations for that kind of stuff less often than I did a few months ago. Might just be that I started using the "no thanks" button on some of that shit

 

[Lucky Seven]

I mean, it's a platform for many camps. I can't really explain it but the way YouTube rewards videos that get clicks just from being a suggested video gives the advantage to the alt-right because they're currently deeply entrenched in the outrage culture. Once you get caught in the rabbit hole and have one of those videos on your view history, your suggestions are invaded. Videos of similar titles and the same tags start to be recommended.

So, to be specific, it's no so much a platform for the alt-right as it is a platform for them to voice their outrage and problematic reaction to trending media and politics. Other political idealogies are flushed out as you get deeper in, because YouTube isn't trying to show you a variety of videos but just trying to find a single genre of videos it knows grab your attention.

If you don't want these videos in your life, then you have to purge them from your watch history and likes.

 

[devilhawk]

YouTube absolutely needs to do something about its recommendation algorithm. I watched ONE political video (Obama's DNC speech) and started getting bombarded with "similar" videos that are stuff like "Watch anakin666 destroy a feminist live!" or some rancid shit about how Anita Sarkisia controls the banking industry through BLM.

Shit does work both ways.

I can't watch a Hearthstone video without being recommended a video titled "Al Fraken DESTROYS nominee."

Granted I get the anti-SJW crap too, but it is pretty mixed. There certainly is no shortage of anti-Trump videos on Youtube right now.

 

[Pyrokai]

Will Google take responsibility to fix this?

 

[One Eyed Willy]

Shit does work both ways.

I can't watch a Hearthstone video without being recommended a video titled "Al Fraken DESTROYS nominee."

Granted I get the anti-SJW crap too, but it is pretty mixed. There certainly is no shortage of anti-Trump videos on Youtube right now.

Pretty much this, people are incredibly biased and blind when they are motivated to be.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Will Google take responsibility to fix this?

lol

 

[Makonero]

Shit does work both ways.

I can't watch a Hearthstone video without being recommended a video titled "Al Fraken DESTROYS nominee."

Granted I get the anti-SJW crap too, but it is pretty mixed. There certainly is no shortage of anti-Trump videos on Youtube right now.

The article addresses this:

There are countless other forms of political expression on YouTube, but no bloc is anywhere near as organized or as assertive as the YouTube right and its dozens of obdurate vloggers. Nor is there a coherent group on the platform articulating any sort of direct answer to this budding form of reaction — which both validates this material in the eyes of its creators and gives it room to breathe, grow and assert itself beyond its immediate vicinity.

Just ask YouTube itself. In mid-July, the company launched “YouTube Creators for Change,” which it described as “global initiative dedicated to amplifying and multiplying the voices of role models who are tackling difficult social issues with their channels.” Its roster included YouTube personalities from various subcultures — style bloggers, essayistic vloggers, comedians, musicians — and its stated intention was to drive “greater awareness and productive conversations around social issues.” It was an openly and moderately progressive project, in a familiar corporate tradition. It was also rolled out alongside a broader campaign on the site to counter “extremist” content. The ostensible target of that campaign was videos promoting terrorism. But a recent post from YouTube invokes Creators for Change in the service of somewhat broader goals, promising “tougher treatment to videos that aren’t illegal but have been flagged by users as potential violations of our policies on hate speech and violent extremism.”

The YouTube right has portrayed statements like this as a regulatory threat — a precursor to censorship, or perhaps as some latter-day, private analogue to the Fairness Doctrine. Its members believe that their videos and accounts are doomed to be banned, delisted or stripped of lucrative ads, effectively diminishing their presence on the platform. But for the moment, in Creators for Change, the right also saw a narrative opportunity. In response videos, YouTube and its owner, Google, were cast as an oppressive establishment forcing left-wing politics into users’ feeds. Black Pigeon Speaks published his own video, “#CreatorsForChange — YouTube Propaganda Gets REKT — Yet Again,” in which he quickly segued from the platform’s campaign to a brazen claim that “diversity always leads to fractured societies that always break down.” The comments on YouTube’s original video introducing the program were rapidly flooded with bile. “Meet the rainbow coalition of YouTubers who hate white people!” read one top-voted comment. “I never hated diversity until media began to forcefully push it down my throat,” read another.

It was, for the YouTube right, an expression of power — internal to YouTube, to be sure, but projected outward into the platform’s wider world in a visible and disconcerting way. Its members had, in their view, fended off an intrusion into a venue over which they feel a real and potentially lasting claim. Watson, who frequently portrays his political cohort as victims of censorship on YouTube and elsewhere, tallied the moment as a victory for his team. He captured a collage of negative comments and posted it on Twitter, alongside a laughing emoji. “Politically active YouTube users are so beyond red-pilled,” he wrote, “they’ve basically made it a right-wing safe space.”

 

[Valhelm]

That is a big crux of the problem, one click and you get railroaded with fuckery

Yep, the format itself leads millions of young kids to far-right lunacy.

 

[RootCause]

Hope google does something about their radical, and hateful ways.

 

[Protein]

I'm starting to believe these huge tech companies just have alt-right sympathizers, if not alt-right members themselves.

 

[Funky Papa]

Pretty much this, people are incredibly biased and blind when they are motivated to be.

I used to get some of those lefty videos from time to time. Not anymore. My recommendations have been a literal wall of reactionary garbage for quite a while.

I'd like to believe it's my pennace for reading Quillette, but there must be something else. Either they are producing an absurd amount of content or they've found a way to game YouTube (which wouldn't be shocking since some of the most popular channels are semi-run by agents/agencies).

 

[Yazzees]

"so is this like, right-wing radio for butthurt high schoolers" were the words out of my mouth when i was first exposed to a sargon video like 3 years ago

the avoidance of any printed, >140 character formats among these people is really telling imo

I'm starting to believe these huge tech companies just have alt-right sympathizers, if not alt-right members themselves.

FWIW I've never met alt-right dudes who work at a Microsoft or an Amazon, it's always some chucklefuck with like 2 vanity projects in python on github

 

[Ekai]

Please don't tell me PDP started talking to Sargon...

They even did a livestream chat, iirc.

I used to get some of those lefty videos from time to time. Not anymore. My recommendations have been a literal wall of reactionary garbage for quite a while.

I'd like to believe it's my pennace for reading Quillette, but there must be something else. Either they are producing an absurd amount of content or they've found a way to game YouTube (which wouldn't be shocking since some of the most popular channels are semi-run by agents/agencies).

Hbomberguy has a fantastic google chrome add-on that gets rid of alt-right reccommendations.

 

[Gordon Shumway]

I know a few good cooking channels you might want to check out

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

I don't buy the premise that youtube only has the "youtube right". The problem with talk radio was always that only conservatives were on it. Youtube has literally everything, including prominent left wing channels such as the Young Turks, Vice, and John Oliver.

We're not talking about professional broadcasters here. We're talking about the low-level influencers who aren't on a specific payroll and therefore hard to categorize into fixed, knowable categories.

If you want a lefty channel, there's Feminist Frequency and the like, but the first thing you should notice about channels like that is the comments are either off or heavily moderated to prevent the asshats from getting through.

Let's face it: being a woman on the internet is the equivalent of being under permanent verbal (and possibly physical) assault.

And men are unlikely to want to raise a lefty banner out of fear of being treated the same way. As a result, all discussion move to the right. It is an organized campaign of influence through fear.

 

[Sunster]

i watched a video on feminism once and now my recommended videos are like 50% Feminist DESTROYED, Feminist Cringe Compilation, SJW REKT

 

[ThePrivateCookie]

google's algorithm recommends similar videos to the ones you watch, so if you don't want alt-right recommendations stop watching alt right videos.

 

[blakep267]

Also a thing that happens in YouTube is alt right trolls will band together and get other pages deleted/suspended that may speak out against them but the same doesn't happen for the alt rights channel

 

[bodyofanamerican]

I really do not envy parents who have to worry about and monitor what their kids are being exposed to on YouTube.

 

[Palette Swap]

google's algorithm recommends similar videos to the ones you watch, so if you don't want alt-right recommendations stop watching alt right videos.

Or you could read the thread.

 

[Funky Papa]

I think that one of the reasons you can't really avoid those kind of recommendations is because there's always going to be some nut raving about the most curious subjects.

So say you may be looking into some documentaries about the Assyrian era. Lo and behold, I'm sure some motherfucker is pumping out reactionary videos about the masculine mindset of the fertile crescent and how everything went to shit when womynz began to get ideas or something.

And of course, the gaming community is filled to the brim with them, so if you search for replays or something you may get a disection about how Fallout is secretly a ploy of (((globalist))) developers or how ME: Andromeda failed because SJW are a lost cause and can't connect with white and straight gamers.

It's crazy out there.

 

[GuessMyUserName]

google's algorithm recommends similar videos to the ones you watch, so if you don't want alt-right recommendations stop watching alt right videos.

Problem is the alt-right floods certain stuff themselves when when they troll the comments sections, so even positive videos can give shit "you might like" reccs, because alt-right trolls are "watching" those videos too.

I personally don't get this kind of stuff even though I watch tons of political videos on Youtube but I don't really watch the feminist/Sarkeesian stuff people are mentioning in this thread. I stick to MSNBC a lot which is pretty free of alt-right trolls, but when I first was watching more CNN videos I started getting some dumb shit.

I do get a lot of the opposite side some people mentioned here, Franken DESTROYS ____, and TYT even though I'm no fan of theirs.

 

[BocoDragon]

YouTube is host to just one dominant native political community: the YouTube right.

I'm gonna need receipts.

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

It's crazy out there.

The worst part is that you have to become crazy paranoid yourself in order to deal with it.

I can only speak for myself, but I've definitely noticed a darker expectation upon other people than I used to have or even should have.

 

[BrutishMrFish]

With the left firmly in control of Hollywood it shouldn't really be a surprise that the far right would flock to YouTube.

The same Hollywood that is only now just starting to catch on to the idea that women and minorities can lead successful films? The Hollywood that can still make a killing with films that feature racist stereotypes (ie. Transformers movies)? The Hollywood that makes successful films that defend Bush-era wiretapping and interrogation (like The Dark Knight)? The Hollywood that's mostly only willing to bring up gay people with a wink and nod (and don't get me started on Hollywood and trans people)? The Hollywood that still tries to pay its female stars less? That Hollywood?

Just because Republican politicians position themselves against it to make themselves seem more relatable doesn't mean that Hollywood isn't conservative in many, many ways.

 

[Jakeh111]

Does the alt right have any ASMR channels?

 

[Funky Papa]

Does the alt right have any ASMR channels?

yes

I don't even understand ASMR, but I've seen those popping around. That's how nuts it is.

 

[Enduin]

yes

I don't even understand ASMR, but I've seen those popping around. That's how nuts it is.

I get tingles when feminazis get rekted. Doesn't everyone?

 

[Jakeh111]

yes

I don't even understand ASMR, but I've seen those popping around. That's how nuts it is.

I swear there is a ASMR theme for literally everything. I don't get it either.

 

[jack_package_200]

yes

I don't even understand ASMR, but I've seen those popping around. That's how nuts it is.

Do they just whisper the word cuck for four minutes straight?

 

[Pyrokai]

This is the kind of stuff that seriously makes me depressed and I want to do something about it, but I don't know what or how. I'm a nobody and can't do anything but be depressed and Idk start a petition or something.

What do we do? How can we fight this fascism and propaganda festering to the surface faster than we ever thought possible?

 

[TI82]

Its super insidious too. Jontron was my favorite youtuber for a long while, and then he came out with that interview where he said black people are genetically predisposed to crime. I was like "What the fuck? Who was I watching this whole time? Was he always like this?"

Right. Super talented guy with production and comedy but Jesus fucking christ, why do all of the supposedly good ones turn out to have these horrible skeletons in their closets

 

[AtomskEater]

I clicked a link from a gaming side forum and it was for a video from some GG goober (long hair and beard, don't remember his name tbh). I realized what it was and clicked away in seconds, but I still get "FEMINAZIS ARE KILLING GAMES AND WHITE MALES" videos in my recommendations from time to time. I need to stop being lazy and use hbomberguy's filter.

Its super insidious too. Jontron was my favorite youtuber for a long while, and then he came out with that interview where he said black people are genetically predisposed to crime. I was like "What the fuck? Who was I watching this whole time? Was he always like this?"

Same. Loved his content, but I didn't want to continue to support him after he said all that bs. Why would I want to continue to support someone who thinks I'm 99% likely to be a criminal?

 

[Alo0oy]

When even Laci Green joins the alt right, people need to admit that Youtube has a problem.

 

[jack_package_200]

When even Laci Green joins the alt right, people need to admit that Youtube has a problem.

Such a shame that she became a TERF

 

[ClosingADoor]

Shit is going to be fun when all these 12-year olds have been indoctrinated enough and start voting at 18. Thanks, social media for taking zero responsibility for the content you spread.

 

[Alo0oy]

Such a shame that she became a TERF

She's way beyond a TERF now.

 

[Funky Papa]

When even Laci Green joins the alt right, people need to admit that Youtube has a problem.

I don't understand how's that YouTube's problem, though. People doing a 180 when dating someone is very common. And it's not like Laci wasn't coming off as being a bit insincere. I wouldn't be shocked if she thought she could make more money this way.

 

[studyguy]

Hell talk radio in the meantime still has an iron grip on a lot of the country anyway where right wing stations overwhelmingly outnumber more neutral ones like NPR in most of the states, they have an in with the old and the young at this point.

 

[Muppet of a Man]

Who would have thought that a lot of socially isolated nerds could be spiteful, bigoted shit bags with massive chips on their shoulders?

 

[diablos991]

Right wing ideas need to be discussed somewhere.
Ignoring them or pretending they don't exist doesn't make them go away.

I see both sides represented in YouTube along with a lot of independent ideals.

 

[Random Human]

When even Laci Green joins the alt right, people need to admit that Youtube has a problem.

Whoa, I hadn't heard about this.

 

[patapuf]

yes

I don't even understand ASMR, but I've seen those popping around. That's how nuts it is.

I almost want to see this, but then i'll get recommendations and fuck that.

My YT so far has been (almost) free of that stuff.

Right wing ideas need to be discussed somewhere.
Ignoring them or pretending they don't exist doesn't make them go away.

I see both sides represented in YouTube along with a lot of independent ideals.

I agree on principle but seeing so many go nuts on conspiracy theories, and people close to me start to sympathize with them...I really hope there's a way to stop that. There's right wing talking points and then there's the complete fuckery we've gotten the last few years.

 

[Alo0oy]

I don't understand how's that YouTube's problem, though. People doing a 180 when dating someone is very common. And it's not like Laci wasn't coming off as being a bit insincere. I wouldn't be shocked if she thought she could make more money this way.

Their algorithm is terrible, they constantly recommend far-right videos, I keep up a lot with worldwide politics, but why is Youtube recommending Sargon when I'm watching a video about the politics in South America or West Africa?

Or when I watch a game trailer and Youtube recommends the latest outrage from Gamergators.

 

[PopeReal]

Right wing ideas need to be discussed somewhere.
Ignoring them or pretending they don't exist doesn't make them go away.

I see both sides represented in YouTube along with a lot of independent ideals.

I don't mind discussing conservative ideas.

Its the hate that some of these fuckboys are spewing that is the problem.

 

[Buckle]

Do they just whisper the word cuck for four minutes straight?

"....cuuuuuuuuuuuccccccckkk."

*insert sound of gentle ocean waves*

 

[Kinitari]

I can't help but feel that there is just more passing of the buck here. I think we as progressives are fucking dropping the ball, and when we continuously outsource our failures to youtube, cnn, or whomever is next, people see this as a weakness in argument.


I see a lot of complaining that platforms aren't doing enough to hide viewpoints that we disagree with and not enough to promote viewpoints that I agree with, and it just feels like a dead end.

 

[freeofgreed]

Glad somebody is finally calling this shit out. This has been bugging me for a while now. I've had to unsubscribe from so many YouTubers this past year because they all came out as alt right assholes. What's worse is it's actually working. The generation after millennials are going to be so fucked.

 

[freeofgreed]

When even Laci Green joins the alt right, people need to admit that Youtube has a problem.

Wait what?