(This post is referring to tiktok, instagram reels, youtube shorts type content)
So it’s no secret that for half a decade now we’ve had short form video content get increasingly popularised. To the point where your uncle probably watches them on some platform and so does your 6 year old.
Now in terms of addictiveness, privacy falling through the roof, advertising down your throat, etc. we’ve reached new records. But that isn’t what this post is about.
I never used this format much, except in 2020 during the pandemic, but I can’t help but notice when I do. Even if I make a brand new VPN’d account for it. Every 5-10th post or so wil be some kind of culture war propaganda.
The kind of stuff that made me an edgy right wing bigot as a teenager because I got influenced by it on youtube. Luckily, I grew and changed. Unfortunately, many former friends, not so much.
On a completely new account you’ll get bombarded with videos like:
- “This is why women NEED real MEN”
- “How to piss of a cyclist”
- ”If a climate activist is blocking the road, you should be allowed to run over them”
- ”When MEN were thrown a grenade, they reacted quickly, WOMEN got confused and scared. That’s why we NEED men in the army”
- Wholesome looking video — homophobic caption: “This is why children need both a mum and a dad”
These are all examples I got today when I decided to make completely new accounts on a new device with a VPN. I tried youtube shorts and tiktok for this and scrolled 20ish videos on each without liking anything.
It scares me how much there is a strong rightward shift amongst the younger population. To the point where 18-24’s in recent german elections have voted the most for the borderline neo-nazi AFD party. I know these parties are by far the most active and very popular on tiktok.
I know to some people these examples might seem anoying but trivial. But you are forgetting how impressionable children and teenagers are. There really is this thing called the alt-right pipeline. One very specific example which impacted me at a younger age, was you start with “mad karen” type videos, then after a couple you get recommended “mad SJW” videos, I think you see where I’m going with this, after a while you’re on “feminism debunked” and watching peterson/crowder/shapiro. I know many childhood friends who went down this pipeline and became insufferably racist bigot adults.
I wonder what others think on this?
To be fair, alt-right content is present in all types of medias: short videos, but also tweets, articles, long videos, essays, etc.
The fake Facebook groups created by Russia to antagonize two local groups did not need shorts videos to succeed: https://www.npr.org/2017/11/01/561427876/how-russia-used-facebook-to-organize-two-sets-of-protesters
If you look at Twitter nowadays, the “For you” is going to be more or less what you listed above
I’ll second this. The poison is in everything.
Birth of a Nation was a theatrical full length feature film.
I don’t use TicToc, but it’s not the cause.
You’re completely right. But somehow, I feel like it’s mostly escapable on most formats, except the short form video type one, as you rely entirely on an algorithm.
except the short form video type one, as you rely entirely on an algorithm.
Facebook, Twitter, even Reddit nowadays promote a certain type of content (reaction inducing), so unfortunately it’s not only shorts
Again, correct, but you still custimise your feed to large extent by following stuff.
Although you can follow people on tiktok and stuff, your feed is almost entirely predetermined by how you interact with content, ie. how long you stayed on certain videos, what you liked, what made you close the app, etc.
Alt-right fuckos have unfortunately been targeting impressionable kids for decades now.
Tiktok is just where the kids are today, a few years ago it was the YouTube alt-right pipeline and before that it was basically just weirdos on 4chan
That’s not to say it’s not alarming or something to drag your friends away from, but it’s not new and it’s not going away.
No one rational can possibly support their ideology, so they need to find easily manipulated people to dupe in order to remain relevant.
I’ve somehow managed to completely miss all of that. I rarely see any right wing content anywhere. I almost never watch videos filmed in portrait rather than landscape. Maybe that has saved me?
I watch lots of gun related content on YouTube, no right-wing crap to be seen. Guess they know me?
Same here for the most part. Every now and then I’ll see something recommended that may be on the edge but I’m not clicking it to find out.
I should note that I’m not talking about shorts so I guess I’m off topic here. They wouldn’t stop nagging me so installed a plugin to permanently hide it :)
I’m the same way. I’m still on twitter and there’s no such content on my feed except for the occasional post that gets thru. I simply mute those accounts and if it was a retweet I either unfollow the user or turn of retweets from them. It’s not like that’s being forced down my throat. In my experience social media algorithms do listen to the users and when you tell it you’re not interested in something it stops feeding you that.
I agree and I wish I knew how to stop it or counter it for larger numbers of people.
My hot take on this is that the algorithm is working as intended. I don’t think there’s a secret agenda behind it, and even if there was, it would likely skew left due to the nature of tech companies. The algorithm is simply trying to maximize engagement, and certain kinds of content do that better than others. People might feel like they’re being served content they don’t like, but I think they’re actually drawn to that content despite not liking. It’s like driving past a car wreck; you know it’s not good, and you might see something you wish you didn’t, but you still look.
I actively block content from my feed using word filters. I’ve decided I no longer want to see posts about certain things, so I block them. However, every now and then, a post on one of these topics manages to evade my content filters. And what do I do? I click on it and make a comment, getting myself into hot water again. I know I shouldn’t, and I’ve even taken active steps to stop myself, but I still do.