India’s women, Muslims targeted by nationalist YouTube influencers, report finds
- India has more than 450 million YouTube users who are being exposed to videos spreading conspiracy theories and hateful content targeting Muslims and women
- The videos have helped fuel a conspiracy theory that Muslims spread Covid as a form of ‘jihad’, or holy war, according to the NYU Stern Centre report
The NYU Stern Centre report highlighted the case of India to press Alphabet Inc.’s Google-owned video platform to look at its recommendations to boost content moderation and disclose information on how algorithms recommend and remove content.
India has more than 450 million YouTube users, nearly double the size of the platform’s US base. The videos have helped fuel a conspiracy theory that Muslims spread Covid as a form of “jihad”, or holy war, according to the report titled “A Platform ‘Weaponized’: How YouTube Spreads Harmful Content – And What Can Be Done About It”.
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The report also cited examples of rivalries between rival street vendors turning violent after a YouTube video campaign that singled out Muslims as well as anti-Muslim rhetoric often blending with online attacks on women.
“A spate of misogynistic rants by nationalistic Indian YouTube influencers have made such invective popular on the platform,” the report said. “The diatribes, many of which include physical threats, are often delivered as selfie videos.”
A YouTube spokesperson said the recommendations detailed by the report were priorities for the platform though greater algorithmic transparency makes it harder to protect its systems.
“We work to provide ongoing insights into how recommendations work, through blog posts, videos, interviews and more,” the spokesperson said.