A recently published study from Penn State University found that conservative content on Youtube led to a decrease in the popularity of more extremist videos on the website.
The report found that the increase in mainstream conservative content on Youtube over recent years coincided with a decrease in those viewing far-right content.
“Right around the time viewership of Conservative content started skyrocketing, conservative content creation also rose dramatically. Conversely, despite the Alt-Lite and Alt-Right stepping up its content creation activity in 2017-2018, viewership of such content has been declining,” the report reads.
“Alternative voices on YouTube discuss topics mainstream media fails to touch, which may help them feature more prominently in search results and recommendations.”
Based on viewership trends, the researchers were able to conclude that conservative content was able to de-radicalize users.
Youtube, a subsidiary of Google, has long been accused of overly censoring content creators on its platform, targeting conservatives in particular. The situation has gotten so bad that mainstream Conservative outlet PragerU campaigned against their censorship right outside of Youtube’s corporate headquarters.
“Despite not a single video containing explicit, vulgar or obscene material, YouTube has restricted over 200 PragerU videos, labelling them as ‘dangerous’ or ‘derogatory’,” PragerU said in a statement.
While targeting mainstream conservatives, it has also been suggested that Youtube censorship extends to political figures in general.
Conservative media personality Steven Crowder found evidence that Youtube censored 2020 Democratic Presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard after she got into a Twitter feud with Hillary Clinton.
Crowder himself has been demonetized by Youtube after an extended battle with far-left journalist Carlos Maza.
Considering the prevalence of social media censorship, it is surprising that the Trudeau government is claiming that companies are not doing nearly enough.
Social media companies have been threatened with financial penalties and forced shut-downs if they do not comply with the Liberal’s campaign against “hate speech” and “misinformation” online.
The Trudeau government recently confirmed that they will regulate social media after their re-election, ensuring that firms censor all content which does not meet ill-defined “hate speech” rules.
