Radicalization on the Net: Fire Accelerator Social Media


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Status: 07/19/2021 6:10 p.m.

Social media has accelerated the radicalization of the “thinking outside the box” movement. How this actually works is shown by empirical evaluations and a case study by the NDR.

By Svea Eckert and Caroline Schmidt,
NDR

YouTube is considered by experts as the “entry platform” for conspiracy ideological content. Despite adjustments, the video provider continues to contribute to radicalization. Show that NDR– Research and examinations by the Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy (CeMAS) for the NDR.

The exemplary users generated for this purpose first automatically clicked through videos that were shared particularly frequently within the lateral thinker scene. The videos then suggested by YouTube sometimes contained questionable or incorrect content. In the case of conspiracy ideologies, this mechanism could lead people to move away from objective information to mistrust and conspiracy ideology, studies show.

YouTube is changing the parameters

YouTube explains this on NDR-Inquiry that more than 30 changes were made to the algorithm in the past year alone. As a result, it now leads to harmful content “in significantly less than one percent of cases”. The experiment, carried out by CeMAS for the research project, was able to confirm this statement to the extent that, in addition to conspiracy-ideological videos, mostly serious content was also offered on YouTube.

“Of course it does something if there is a video with serious content next to a conspiracy video,” says data scientist Josef Holnburger from CeMAS NDR. That radiate. As a result, disinformation can be upgraded and is practically on a par with informative content.

Large demos as a recruitment opportunity

The short message service Telegram is now playing an important role in the “thinking outside the box”. An evaluation by CeMAS of the particularly wide-reaching Telegram channels from the “lateral thinking” milieu shows how much they have grown during the corona pandemic. Large demonstrations played a role there: in some cases, in the immediate vicinity of these events, the number of subscribers tripled.

Away from “mom content”

The case of Selina Fullert, the former boss and initiator of “lateral thinking 40”, the Hamburg offshoot of the “lateral thinking” movement, shows how this can actually work. She called for people to travel by train without a mask, organized numerous “lateral thinking” demonstrations, and in the end she was observed by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Based on the YouTube history and many interviews NDR-Journalists understand how the then prospective administrative clerk turned to the “thinking outside the box” movement.

The evaluation makes it clear what a major role the video platform YouTube played in this. At the beginning of the pandemic, she always spent her three, three and a half hours there in the evening, says the 32-year-old mother. Her searches on the platform show how she is turning away from “mom content” and knowledge content to lateral thinking and well-known conspiracy ideologues such as Ken Jebsen.

Perceived loss of control makes you vulnerable

“When you find yourself in a situation where you feel like you are losing control and nothing is predictable, open yourself up to ideas, people and groups that will quickly put you back in control,” explains Conflict researcher Andreas Zick from Bielefeld University explained the underlying psychological mechanism.



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