this post was submitted on 05 May 2026
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It’s not just Fox. I stumbled into a “default” YouTube algorithm today, and was bombarded with all sorts of, for lack of a better word, podcast bros. Mostly conservative ragebait, though it sampled trash from the whole political spectrum.
Anyway, I just remember glimpses of videos on “what you weren’t taught about Native Americans,” cleanly presented economics, celebrity podcast talks and such basically being “Hey kids! Let’s gently introduce you to White Replacement Theory.” But it’s never explicit; it’s reasonable sounding, professionally presented content building it up by proxy.
…It’s all a machine. In a different life, I could see myself falling into those traps.
It has to be on purpose. I have to clear out history and watch to try and normalize. I think Shane Gillis is a gateway
Not necessary true. I have my watch history off, been off for years. A couple days ago they took away recommended videos from its home page. I toggle watch history to get recommended back, and I got the same thing. Tons of chud content.
It’s rage-gagement, pure and simple. Outrage driven engagement makes the most profit; it’s similar to the pattern of online reviews: people are way more likely to leave a bad review than a good one and the same goes for nearly every interaction one can have on YouTube.
I really don't think it's "on purpose" trying to push a narrative. I think it's "on purpose" the algorithm sees that displaying videos #9342 and #667 to new audiences tends to result in the new viewer watching more videos over time.
It's incidental that those videos are bad for society. If human behavior taught the algorithm high quality educational videos keeps audiences engaged longer this would be a non-issue.
Deciding to upkeep an algorithm knowing it does that is purposeful tho? The purpose of the system is what it does
The purpose of a system is the desired outcome. Other results are byproducts. The designed purpose is user engagement. The byproduct is the harm to society.
The purpose of a sewer system is to remove waste water from homes. The byproduct can be the smell coming from storm drains. You wouldn't say the purpose of a sewer system is to make storm drains smell.
Ew... I remember this one time I stayed at an AirBnB and forgot to log off YouTube on the TV. OMG the stuff that was in my feed for months!
Don’t use the feed, then!
I’ve deleted official YT apps from my stuff. It’s just too manipulative. Using Unwatched to just queue up stuff on occasion is so much more peaceful.
Not that it helps now, but you can remove videos from your history so it doesn't influence the type of videos it's serving up.
Also, you can force log out of devices remotely
That’s just fighting a rigged game, though.
Best to search for what you want, independently and deliberately, instead of being served.
This is why I now bring an Apple TV on trips where I’m going to want to watch anything. Just plug that into the host/hotel TV, connect to the WiFi, and go.
I peeked at unlogged in YouTube the other day, and it is horrifying.
You also get weird stuff like this, "Documentary" on Biblical Giants we share a world with the people, the viewers, not giants.
And the comments… I can’t tell which are bots.
To be fair, at least that's interesting in a bullshit mythology fiction way.
With videos like that though: I am more annoyed with the constant AI read scripts. If somebody can't be bothered to read a script, I can't be bothered to watch.
Hank Green recently picked apart one of these.