(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.
Never claimed it was the cause, but from my perspective, and from the trends I’m noticing, it seems to be far more prevalent there.
I don’t get bombarded with that stuff if I create a new account on basically any other service but those.
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.
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.
I'm not that familiar with the latest versions of the three I listed, but I've seen quite a few complaints on Reddit recently who seems to be pushing irrelevant content just for rage bait.
Also the things you mentioned about tracking are there on Twitter too:
https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/tech/what-does-twitter-know-about-you-and-your-data-how-to-see-everything-twitter-thinks-about-you-4125827