The Christchurch Shooter and YouTube's Radicalization Trap

Online radicalization experts speaking with WIRED say that while platforms have cracked down on extremist content since then, the fundamental business models behind top social media sites still play a role in online radicalization.According to the report, released last night, the terrorist regularly watched extremist content online, and donated to organizations like the Daily Stormer, a white supremacist site, and Stefan Molyneux’s far-right Freedomain Radio. “The individual claimed that he was not a frequent commenter on extreme right-wing sites and that YouTube was, for him, a far more significant source of information and inspiration,” the report says.The terrorist’s interest in far-right YouTubers and edgy forums like 8chan is not a revelation. While he was not a frequent poster on right-wing sites, he spent ample time in the extremist corners of YouTube."They’ve kicked some people off the platform, but they haven’t addressed that underlying issue."Becca Lewis, StanfordA damning 2018 report by Stanford researcher and PhD candidate Becca Lewis describes the alternative media system on YouTube that fed young viewers far-right propaganda. But because he wasn’t a self-identified or overt neo-Nazi, he became embraced by more mainstream people with more mainstream platforms.” YouTube removed Molyneux’s channel in June of this year.This “step-ladder of amplification” is in part a byproduct of the business model for YouTube creators, says Lewis. According to the New Zealand government’s report, the Christchurch terrorist regularly shared far-right Reddit posts, Wikipedia pages, and YouTube videos, including in an unnamed gaming site chat.The Christchurch mosque terrorist also followed and posted on several white nationalist Facebook groups, sometimes making threatening comments about immigrants and minorities.