NBC News: Forget Facebook, YouTube videos are quietly radicalizing millions of young people — and the company is profiting

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In August, as neo-Nazis rioted in Chemnitz, Germany, YouTube users were recommended videos from extremist sources blaming the riots on refugees. YouTube was also castigated by researchers at the Counter Extremism Project and by MSNBC host Chris Hayes for broadcasting terrorist propaganda and conspiracy videos. Elsewhere, journalists and researchers have documented women YouTubers promoting white supremacy and YouTube stunts promoting extremist politics in a media environment similar to right-wing talk radio. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey have been called to testify before Congress in high-profile hearings that questioned their products, politics and allegiances. And yet YouTube has remained conspicuously absent from these calls for platform accountability.

Date
October 4, 2018
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