“Autoplay got me there”: How YouTube’s algorithm built a following for fascist group Patriotic Alternative

YouTube is a key tool in recruiting far-right activists to the largest British fascist group Patriotic Alternative (PA), according to new research.

Dr Tony Karas, Research Fellow in Criminology at City St George’s, University of London, carried out an analysis of 40 PA activists who described their conversion to the far-right group in video interviews, podcasts and blog posts.

A total of 33 activists said social media was an important part of their conversion.

Of those, 27 cited YouTube, with many pointing towards the platform’s algorithm in nudging them towards more radical content.

PA espouses ethnonationalist views including the Great Replacement theory, a far-right conspiracy theory asserting that mass immigration to Europe is being deliberately orchestrated by liberals, leftists and Jewish elites.

To carry out the study, Dr Karas analysed content published between PA’s inaugural conference in September 2019 and the end of April 2023, when the organisation underwent a major split.

Activists refer to their conversion to a far-right worldview as “taking the red pill”, a metaphor that references a scene in 1999 sci-fi movie The Matrix, in which the protagonist Neo is offered a red pill which will make him aware of the truth of the world.

Many PA activists’ “red pill” stories follow a gradual, incremental process of radicalising beliefs.

They recount beginning watching mainstream conservative and libertarian YouTubers, such as Ben Shapiro or Carl Benjamin (known under the moniker Sargon of Akkad), before YouTube’s autoplay function nudged them towards more radical, overtly neo-Nazi content.

One activist said: “[YouTube] autoplay was specifically what got me there.”

Dr Karas said:

“The far-right is undergoing an international resurgence.

“YouTube is the second most visited website globally and its algorithm drives 70% of watch time on the platform. The role its algorithm played in these activists' journeys towards outright neo-Nazi beliefs is undeniable.

“YouTube and other platforms must be held accountable for publishing and profiting from huge amounts of fascist propaganda.”

Some PA followers describe beginning their journey from a position of disillusionment or relative political ignorance.

An experience of a world event, such as the Brexit referendum, the 2016 election of Donald Trump, Black Lives Matter protests, or the migration “crisis”, sets them on a path of dis­covery.

Others describe watching rightwing social media influencers’ videos as a key factor in setting them on this path, ultimately reinterpreting their life stories through a racist and conspir­atorial lens.

For example, one activist’s story begins with his experience of homelessness, which he now attributes to mass immigration and the “anti-white prejudice” of local authorities.

Another attributes the urbanisation of his idyllic countryside hometown to the local authorities’ involvement in a grand conspiracy to demograph­ically replace white British people.

The research is published in Studies in Conflict & Terrorism.

ENDS