2024/05/06 by Adrian Rauchfleisch, Jonas Kaiser · 1 voice · 6 citations
Computer Science · Social Sciences · #Computer science #Disinformation #Far right #Focus (optics) #Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection #Internet privacy #Law #Misinformation and Its Impacts #Moderation #Political science #Politics #Social Media and Politics #Social media #World Wide Web
paper · doi:10.1080/1369118x.2024.2346524
openalex publication_date 2024/05/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The content moderation practice of deplatforming, i.e., the removal of undesired actors, has become common on social media platforms such as YouTube. Our study aims to examine the impact of deplatforming on prominent far-right channels on YouTube. In our study, we are particularly interested in the deplatforming of prominent far-right channels such as Alex Jones, James Allsup, or Red Ice TV to understand the impact deplatforming has on them. To do so, we analyze two datasets: We check whether 11,198 YouTube channels have been removed in 22 months between 2018 and 2019 and for what reason. We then focus on the far right and check whether the deplatformed far-right channels have found a new home on the alternative video platform BitChute. The time frame for this study includes the removal of some critically important far-right figures. Our analysis shows that deplatforming effectively minimizes the reach of disinformation and extreme speech, as alternative platforms allowing this kind of content cannot mitigate the negative effect of being deplatformed on YouTube.