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| Youtube have cracked down on suggesting viewers watch conspiracy theory videos. These videos are often funny and ridiculous, but can pose a very real threat to vulnerable internet users with underlying mental health issues. |
The internet is different from other media in that it is not only multimodal but also hypermodal. It goes beyond typical models and modes of media, and this is accomplished primarily through the use of hyperlinks. For people who have grown up with the internet, it may seem quaint that a word you click on that takes you to another website is such a big deal. For media theorists, this is the equivalent of reinventing the wheel. Hypermodality allows audiences to use and to interact with media products that were never previously possible.
One thing you will definitely be aware of is how distracting hypermodal media products are. One second you are reading about cupcakes, the next you are about to purchase a lamp, and then minutes later you'll be reading about the steepest railways in the world. All this is great, but it's also highly distracting. We can refer to this as a rabbit hole, which is where the user becomes lost in a distracting maze of hyperlinks and ends up somewhere completely unrelated to where they started.
Internet rabbit holes are well known to users, but they are also intentionally set up by media producers in order to 'trap' unsuspecting audiences in to spending more time online.
Ex-Google employee Guillaume Chaslot, who worked on the AI that allows Youtube to recommended videos based on the browsing history and personal tastes of users, outlines the implications behind this in this Twitter thread. Ultimately, by aggressively promoting misleading and manipulative videos, for example conspiracy theory videos, vulnerable users have been exploited by Youtube in the name of profit. Youtube, in response to the events outlined in the Twitter thread, have apparently stopped aggressively pushing conspiracy theory videos.