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Routes to Radicalization: an Exploration Into a Youtube Video Network of Controversial Content and the Alt-Right

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Routes to Radicalization: an Exploration Into a Youtube Video Network of Controversial Content and the Alt-Right University of Amsterdam Routes to Radicalization: An Exploration into a YouTube Video Network of Controversial Content and the Alt-Right Media and Information BA Aidan Fahle Student number: 11788178 Supervisor: Maxigas Word Count: 10,007 2 Abstract Throughout recent years, many different groups in society have become aware of the fact that social media platforms such as YouTube have gained significant amounts of power and influence. Due to this fact, it has become increasingly important to seriously consider the various consequences and potential repercussions associated with these extremely popular social media outlets. One such consequence, which has been at the center of much debate and controversy in the last five years, is the fact that extremist groups are beginning to utilize these social media outlets with hopes of spreading their ideologies to the masses. In this research, the extremist group of the alt-right is investigated through YouTube with the aim of examining just how effective of a tool YouTube can be with regards to content dissemination and thus towards the path of radicalization. To do this, six videos were chosen from six different channels which can be broadly separated into three different categories of the intellectual dark web, the alt-lite, as well as the alt-right. By creating a network visualization through the help of YouTube Data Tools and Gephi, the related video network between the three different categories of videos shows that while indeed there is a distinct correlation between videos of less extreme content and those of the alt-right, the extent to which this analysis substantiates enough evidence supporting direct paths to radicalization on the platform remains unclear. Overall, this research is relevant insofar as there has yet to be a network analysis of the alt-right on YouTube throughout academia. Thus, this study serves as an initial guide towards understanding this group’s effectiveness on the platform more generally. Key words: alt-right, radicalization, YouTube, network analysis, extremism ​ ​ 3 Table of Contents Abstract 2 Table of Contents 3 1. Introduction and Academic Relevance 4 2. Theoretical Framework 6 2.1 What exactly is the alt-right and where did it originate from? 6 2.2 Contrarian communities: Defining the intellectual dark web and the alt-lite 9 2.3 Personalization in the age of filter bubbles and echo chambers 11 3. Research Question 13 4. Methodology: Network Analysis 14 ​ ​ 4.1 Rationale for channel and video decisions 14 4.2 Data extraction and visualization 15 4.3 Potential concerns and limitations 16 5. Results of the YouTube network analysis 17 5.1 Unpacking the network and its various clusters 17 5.2 Edges: Analyzing connectivity within the network 20 6. Discussion 22 7. Conclusion 25 Bibliography 28 List of Figures 30 4 1. Introduction and Academic Relevance The advent of social media has allowed for a bastion of free speech which has significantly changed the ways in which we interact with one another as well as the world around us. These contemporary platforms provide its users with new found capacities as well as state-of-the-art capabilities which have never been so easily earned. Anyone with access to the internet and/or a computer has the ability to project their ideas, beliefs and opinions out into the world with the click of a button and within seconds at that. There is no doubt that these tools, when used appropriately, can be immensely useful, fun, and entertaining, however as these tools and their respective sites become more commonplace in society, many various setbacks, repercussions , and overall adverse effects have begun to creep more and more into the limelight. Among these problems are topics and themes such as trolling and hate speech, cyber-bullying, cancel culture, and social media addiction to name a few. There has already been much literature and conducted research geared towards social media and its corresponding shortcomings and pitfalls, but considering this topic is much too broad for any one paper to cover on its own, social media and its faults have been deconstructed to more specific topics and areas of discourse. One such example that has received little attention in not only academic discourse, but also in society more generally, is online radicalization efforts and experiences via social media. Forms and methods of radicalization can differ from platform to platform. Sometimes radicalization can be very obvious and explicit, while other times it can be very subtle and sophisticated. With this being said, it is interesting to examine the factors at play with regards to radicalization and how it works on a more distinct, micro level. This paper intends to do just that. More specifically however, this study intends to examine radicalization processes via social media through the ideology of the alt-right or “alternative right” (ADL). First, this study is relevant and useful for the study of the alt-right and white nationalism in general as well as understanding how this ideology is contained and exercised in various internet related contexts. Many scholars (Adams and Roscigno 759; Johnson 100; Futrell and Simi 76) have examined white nationalism and its newfound home on the Internet, however, little academic research has been focused towards the radicalization efforts from the perspective 5 of a network visualization of YouTube videos. Rather than examining white nationalism and its increased visual presence on the Internet like much of the academic literature has done so far, this study wants to dive into the specifics of how and why a platform such as YouTube creates such a viable and efficient space for extremist groups such as the alt-right. Second, this study will benefit the state of research with regards to popular social and online movements of the intellectual dark web and the alt-lite. Both of which have proven to be rather ambiguous in nature, making it difficult for scholars to understand and research with any absolute certainty. Both of these terms have quickly crept into the limelight of public discourse and debate and have been the subject of many different controversies. Examining a network of YouTube videos relating to these two different categories as well as the alt-right will help to better understand how the alt-right have quite rapidly established themselves in many online spaces such as YouTube. Moreover, a network visualization will help to better recognize how viewing and engaging with the specific content found in these categories can make users especially susceptible to radicalization efforts of the alt-right. Lastly, this research is academically useful for research on the theory of filter bubbles and echo chambers. Similarly to white nationalism on the internet, the theory of the filter bubble has been discussed more from a broad media perspective. As the term itself is relatively new with regards to the history of the Internet, media scholar Eli Pariser coined the term in 2011 and it has since then altered many ways in which we view and use the Internet today. As much of the literature related to the filter bubble has focused on more wide-ranging ideas and concepts as well as potential future threats, only recently has this concept been examined academically and been more attributed towards extremist ideologies (O’Hara and Stevens 401; Tait 36). However, even with this being said, much of the more specific accounts and literature focus on extremist beliefs related to Islam (Speri; Nurminen 14). Still, a focused look into the alt-right via a YouTube video network is lacking in academia. Considering YouTube is one of the largest and most popular social media sites in the world today, this “popularity [YouTube] has led to its usage by extreme right groups for the purpose of content dissemination” (O’Callaghan et al. 2). Therefore, this study is advantageous towards developing a better understanding of how these 6 fun, useful sites can become dangerous and unhealthy spaces filled with hate, bullying and at times, lead to violence. 2. Theoretical Framework In order to structure the research and properly understand the phenomena at play, a theoretical overview has been deemed necessary. First by further defining the alt-right and examining its origins through an explanation of the Great Replacement Theory. This will help lay a foundation for understanding the alt-right ideology more generally. Second, into the significance of the intellectual dark web as well as the alt-lite. These communities have established themselves as two very prominent communities on YouTube and are integral to this research as they constitute over half of the data collected. Lastly, into the meaning of filter bubbles and echo chambers and how they are significantly altering the ways in which we associate and consume information. This will later be connected to the analysis in hopes of establishing a connection between alt-right radicalization and YouTube as well as serve as an aid in providing a more specific understanding of the group’s more recent advancements in the last few years. 2.1 What exactly is the alt-right and where did it originate from? As it will be integral towards understanding this research, it is important to have a clear-cut definition of the alt-right as it is a term that has been thrown around, seemingly without a care in political rhetoric and debate. According to Merriam-Webster, the term “alt right” refers to “a right-wing, primarily online political movement or grouping based in the U.S. whose members reject mainstream conservative politics and espouse extremist beliefs and policies typically centered on the ideas of white nationalism” (Merriam-Webster). The alt right have reentered the public sphere in recent years and have been at the center of much controversy and debate, particularly stemming from the violence at their Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, North Carolina in the summer of 2017 (Tuters).
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