Media literacy can sometimes spread disinformation - with a little help from search engine algorithms
The Propagandists’ Playbook peels back the layers of the right-wing media manipulation machine to reveal why its strategies are so effective and pervasive, while also humanizing the people whose worldviews and media practices conservatism embodies. Based on interviews and ethnographic observations of two Republican groups over the course of the 2017 Virginia gubernatorial race—including the author’s firsthand experience of the 2017 Unite the Right rally—the book considers how Google algorithms, YouTube playlists, pundits, and politicians can manipulate audiences, reaffirm beliefs, and expose audiences to more extremist ideas, blurring the lines between reality and fiction. Francesca Tripodi argues that conservatives who embody the Christian worldview give authoritative weight to original texts and interrogate the media using the same tools taught to them in Bible study—for example, using Google to “fact check” the news. The result of this practice, tied to conservative marketing tactics, is more than a reaffirmation of existing beliefs: it is a radicalization of content and a changing of narratives adopted by the media. Tripodi also demonstrates the pervasiveness of white supremacy in the conservative media ecosystem, as well as its mainstream appeal, scope, and spread.
Uncovering the tactics of anti-immigration YouTube - and tools to fight back
Define American recently released a new report, “’Immigration Will Destroy Us’ and Other Talking Points.” It describes how popular anti-immigration YouTube videos frame the issue and their influence on offline conversations and perceptions. One section, co-authored by Francesca Tripodi, Shauna Siggelkow, and Sarah E. Lowe, analyzed the content of the 23 most-watched videos with anti-immigration messages and documented how they promote their narrative. Many of the videos promote the Great Replacement Theory narrative, a white nationalist theory that believes white genocide is imminent. Due to how frequently this narrative appears in the videos, researchers named the network of channels that publish these videos the Great Replacement Network (GRN).
Most of this content comes from a very small number of creators, and two of the three most prominent channels are also the largest anti-immigrant organizations in the United States.
These channels attack and instill fear about legal immigrants (Muslims) and illegal immigrants (Latine). The tactics they use to persuade include:
- Calls to logic and common sense (“trust me, I’ve done the research”)
- Appeals to fear
- Malinformation, or true statistics or data taken out of context to support false conclusions
The report reveals how YouTube influences immigration attitudes among key demographics, and the alarming sway the GRN holds (they have over 100 million views). Define American shares this research in the hope that content creators and similar groups can use this research to counter this narrative and tell positive stories for immigrants online, debunking each of the GRN’s claims one YouTube video at a time.
Generic conventions in YouTube reponse videos drives online harassment campaigns
Over the last decade YouTube “response videos” in which a user offers counterarguments to a video uploaded by another user have become popular among political creators. While creators often frame response videos as debates, those targeted assert that they function as vehicles for harassment from the creator and their networked audience. Platform policies, which base moderation decisions on individual pieces of content rather than the relationship between videos and audience behavior, may therefore fail to address networked harassment. We analyze the relationship between amplification and harassment through qualitative content analysis of 15 response videos. We argue that response videos often provide a blueprint for harassment that shows both why the target is wrong and why harassment would be justified. Creators use argumentative tactics to portray themselves as defenders of enlightened public discourse and their targets as irrational and immoral. This positioning is misleading, given that creators interpellate the viewer as part of a networked audience with shared moral values that the target violates. Our analysis also finds that networked audiences act on that blueprint through the social affordances of YouTube, which we frame as harassment affordances. We argue that YouTube’s current policies are insufficient for addressing harassment that relies on amplification and networked audiences.