Qanon

Qanon

YouTube Bans QAnon Content Only After Years of Algorithmic Amplification

| Importance: 8/10

On October 15, 2020, YouTube announced it would ban content promoting QAnon and related conspiracy theories that “target individuals”—but the policy came approximately three years after YouTube’s recommendation algorithm began systematically amplifying QAnon from an obscure 4chan …

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Research Shows YouTube Recommends Conspiracy Theories 80% More Than Factual Content

| Importance: 9/10

By 2018, comprehensive academic research from UC Berkeley, Harvard, and other institutions documented that YouTube’s recommendation algorithm systematically amplified conspiracy theories and misinformation over factual content—with some studies showing conspiracy videos received dramatically …

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