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Project 2 - Coggle Diagram

- - - - This article takes all of Mr. Cain's Youtube watch history data, as well as a significant amount of data from Youtube's algorithm over the years. Since the article is focused on the far right, the author made sure to make it clear that far-left content is still prevalent on Youtube. The research done on Youtube's algorithm was objective and simply states how creators can keep users engaged regardless of political affiliation. Since a large part of the article is from personal experience and is backed up by his viewing data, the article is credible.
    - - "For years, the algorithm had been programmed to maximize views, by showing users videos they were likely to click on. But creators had learned to game the system, inflating their views by posting videos with exaggerated titles or choosing salacious thumbnail images".
      - "He (Mr. Molyneux) was a men’s rights advocate who said that feminism was a form of socialism and that progressive gender politics were holding young men back. He offered conservative commentary on pop culture and current events, explaining why Disney’s “Frozen” was an allegory about female vanity..."
      - "The new A.I., known as Reinforce, was a kind of long-term addiction machine. It was designed to maximize users’ engagement over time by predicting which recommendations would expand their tastes and get them to watch not just one more video but many more"
    - - I want to focus on how Mr. Cain got so caught up in the far-right community and how users he watched liked Mr. Molyneux use bold ideas and theories to catch young men's attention
        
        I also want to focus on how the YouTube algorithm has been changed multiple times and how it benefitted the far-right community indirectly.
        
        I also want to discuss clickbait and how that played into Mr. Cain's experience with YouTube.
  - - - This article is heavily based on the personal experience of a man who got caught up in the alt-right pipeline and how his YouTube recommendations are at play.
        
        It also discuss how far right creators craft their content to reach new viewers and keep them engaged.
- - - - The article uses data and research from multiple different sources and discusses both sides of the topic. The author is well-versed in digital topics and CNN is a relatively unbiased website. There is no overt bias and does not vilify all men.
  - - - Specific Points
        
        I want to discuss what people are doing to stop and divert young men from falling into this pipeline.
        
        I also want to talk about how there is a clear pipeline to more extreme content.
        
        I want to talk about Andrew Tate's influence on the internet and how his recent fame has drawn many young men into his "alpha-male" mentality.
        
        Direct Quotes
        
        "There is a clear pipeline between misogynist content and larger channels of hate, documented by the Anti-Defamation League.."
        
        "So-called male supremacist views have surged on TikTok and podcasting platforms, with personalities ranting about the rights of “high value” or “hypermasculine” men – those that they define as wealthy, confident, influential, sexually dominant and entitled to subservience from women."
        
        Platforms that promote the idea of male superiority can be highly influential to the viewers of the content and normalize the dehumanization of women. These ideas are often used to attack women on the internet and has also had an influence on young children.
        
        Connection #1
        
        “Part of the problem is, these men don’t listen to or respect the experiences of women. But they listen to each other,” Bunch says. “If men speak up, other men will respond to that and we’ve found that to be true.
      - There is a large portion of the article talking about men's health and how they can become vulnerable to influencers who promote topics like the "manosphere".
- - - - Alt-Right content has more user engagements as the content becomes more extreme within the 3 groups of the pipeline.
      - Youth are a rising population within the alt-right community and memes act as propaganda in a way primarily on sites like reddit and 4chan.
      - Main Points
        
        There are 3 distinct communities within the pipeline and the groups intermix with each other in comment sections of videos.
        
        These communities are growing and the users are migrating towards more extreme content.
        
        The YouTube recommendation algorithm makes I.D.W and Alt-Lite content accessible which allows Alt-Right content to be found.
        
        Youtube's algorithm allows people to take gradual steps into alt-right content until the user is has become fully saturated in the content and the users' suggested will be flooded with similar videos. This very specific recommendation system is like to tunnel vision in the way your view is extremely narrowed. Being recommended content that only reaffirms alt-right ideology solidifies the users' belief in the views being shared.
        
        Connection #2
        
        Direct Quotes
        
        "We find that Alt-lite content is easily reachable from I.D.W. channels, while Alt-right videos are reachable only through channel recommendations." 1
        
        "The Alt-right skews younger than other far-right groups, and has a big online presence, particularly on fringe web sites like 4chan, 8chan and certain corners of Reddit" 2.2
        
        "Users that initially comment only on content from the I.D.W. or the Alt-lite throughout the years consistently start to comment on Alt- right content."
- - - - Social media companies take close to no responsibility for the extremism and hate speech posted online.
      - Regulation of extremist groups can have many different consequences and outcomes.
      - Specific Points
        
        The Cristchurch massacre was planned on social media and talking about how this was able to happen is a key to my paper.
        
        Social Media companies have no liability when it comes to users posts' and they have let their sites run rampant with hate speech and extremism but, there is very little being done about it because of the sensitive around the topic of free speech.
        
        Specifically, restricting certain groups may only further radicalize them. their ban on a popular social media site like Facebook could be used to their advanced because of the distrust in popular media.
        
        Direct Quotes
        
        “…Wheeler not only maps out the problems but also moves us beyond them to consider deeper questions of corporate social responsibility, ethics and the social licence of businesses to operate.” 5.2
        
        Social media companies need to make users accountable for not following community guidelines for hate speech and moderate entire groups for conspiracy which could prevent these groups from following out their extreme agendas.
        
        Connection #3
        
        "There is already evidence that as Facebook and Twitter have increasingly blocked extremists, such users have simply moved to other online spaces." 6.2
        
        "In the largely self-regulating world of Such was the case after the Christchurch massacre when companies - most notably Cloudflare - who had provided services to the 8chan website used by the terrorist, only took action after concerted public pressure." 5.3
      - Extremist groups utilize many different social media sites and also use video games to communicate with each other and display their content online.
- - - - Social Media has made alt-right content readily available and can be trending on platforms like Tiktok which can introduce many people to extreme content
      - Extreme content needs to be moderated in some way to prevent in from being accessible to young children
        
        TIktok's highly personalized algorithm shows users very similar content to what they have been consuming and is a radicalization pathway to the alt-right
      - Specific Points
        
        Hate speech is difficult to moderate because it is often said in a way that has to be understood in context rather than just outright hate speech.
        
        TikTok creators will use popular and trending audios to post hateful content and have it be easily spread
        
        Facebook and other platforms have failed to moderate hate speech and other extreme content that allows alt-right ideology to spread which has lead to real world catastrophes
      - Direct Quotes
        
        "The rapid expansion and evolution of digital spaces have transposed extremist content and ideologies from niche corners of the Internet to platforms that are frequented by billions of users." 10
        
        "But in the past five years, TikTok has become one of the fastest-growing social media platforms of all time, known for its powerful algorithm that serves up highly tailored videos." 15
        
        "While the "Teddy" sound might not explicitly violate the platform's guidelines, videos using it frequently communicate hateful, dangerous, and even violent messages when taking into consideration the full piece of content, including other components like visuals and text." 23
- - - - There is an excessive amount of extreme content spread on social media sites and the need for better moderation protocols to hard to keep up with.
      - Alt-right creators are attacking members of the LGBT+ community with tiktok's own tools to create content.
      - Tiktok's moderation efforts are being outsmarted by extremist users that use different methods to share their content while still spreading the intended message
        
        Specific Points
        
        Creators use symbols and inside jokes to promote their content without directly posting hate speech
        
        Tiktok has made efforts to moderate hate speech on their platform but, they only take a surface approach and miss a large majority of content that isn't overtly extreme
        
        Tiktok has features such as duets and stitches that make it unique to other platforms which alt-right users have used to spread their content
        
        Direct Quotes
        
        "The companies have employed tens of thousands of contractors to manually monitor fringe groups and have turned to machine learning tools to automatically flag the most heinous material."
        
        "To attack the feminist movement, TikTok users also routinely shared images of Ted Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber, who has become a poster child for extreme misogyny online"
        
        Many of the popular ideas that right-wing content contains are redesigned for young viewers to easily consume and find humor in which is part of the normalization process. These memes desensitize viewers to extreme content and allow them to consume more extreme content progressively.
        
        Connection #4
        
        "That included using proxies to promote hateful messages without explicitly using banned words or images on TikTok."
- - - - The source has been peer reviewed and includes extensive data from primary and secondary research. There is no biases and the authors are highly qualified to write on this topic.
        
        Main Points
        
        Extreme speech on social media platforms, particularly YouTube, has led to radicalization of many viewers.
        
        The reccomendation algorithm continues to reccomend videos containing extreme speech about race when viewers watch more videos creating a pipeline to alt-right and white nationalism channels.
        
        Discusses how free speech is a gray area and why alt-right creators can get away with creating hateful content.
        
        Specific Points
        
        Race realism is described as the alt-right's "intellectualist" way of discussing race and justifying while superiority. This allowed them to abuse YouTube's efforts to allow free speech.
        
        The YouTube Algorithm was called a "radicalization machine" because the way it continues to reccomend extreme content.
        
        Direct Quotes
        
        "we recommend that platform moderation focuses on targeting hateful contents by their substance rather than their form" 9.5
        
        " In watching the videos and reading the transcripts in which race realism was discussed, we concluded that the concept amounted to a kind of ‘intellectualization’ of racial intolerance." 9.2
        
        "...while channel hosts and fellow debaters giggled about racism and studiously discussed the inherent biological superiority of whiteness...." 1.1
- - - - This comes from a peer reviewed journal and includes in-depth research with credible sources and there is an "about the author" section which attests to his credibility
    - - There are psychological steps that are commonly taken which lead people down the pipeline
      - The Alt-Right consists of a large pool of topics and content but all share common underlying themes.
      - The Alt-Right pipeline has a pattern of progressively more extreme content which can be traceable through the recommendation algorithm and content creators collaborating with others that share more extreme views. 11
      - Specific Points
        
        Normalization, acclimation, and dehumanization being the steps that are taken in order to fall into the pipeline and how easy normalization occurs because of memes
        
        The greater impact that normalization of extreme content has on society
        
        The sheer amount of content readily available oversaturated users with content nonstop and numbs the user to graphic and extreme content
        
        Direct Quotes
        
        "The first time a racial or misogynistic slur is encountered, it is shocking. The second time, the visceral disgust has been tempered. The third time, it is abhorrent but expected. And so on."
        
        "Hosting a guest not only provides them with a platform for their ideas, but transfers to them a degree of trust."
        
        "Ranging from Islamophobia to reproduction rates, immigration debates or feminist “takedowns,” ideas are wide ranging." 16