{"id":159179,"date":"2021-01-20T21:24:13","date_gmt":"2021-01-20T18:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/extremists-exploit-a-loophole-in-social-moderation-podcasts\/"},"modified":"2021-01-20T21:24:13","modified_gmt":"2021-01-20T18:24:13","slug":"extremists-exploit-a-loophole-in-social-moderation-podcasts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/extremists-exploit-a-loophole-in-social-moderation-podcasts\/","title":{"rendered":"#Extremists exploit a loophole in social moderation: Podcasts"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Extremists exploit a loophole in social<\/a> moderation: Podcasts<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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Major social platforms have been cracking down on the spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories in the leadup to the presidential election and expanded their efforts in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. But App<\/a>le and Google, among others, have left open a major loophole for this material: Podcasts.<\/p>\n

Podcasts made available by the two Big Tech companies let you tune into the world of the QAnon conspiracy theory, wallow in President Donald Trump\u2019s false claims of a stolen election and bask in other extremism. Accounts that have been banned on social media for election misinformation, threatening or bullying and breaking other rules also still live on as podcasts available on the tech giants\u2019 platforms.<\/p>\n

Conspiracy theorists have peddled stolen-election fantasies, coronavirus conspiracies and violent rhetoric. One podcaster, RedPill78, called the Capitol siege a \u201cstaged event\u201d in a Jan. 11 episode of Red Pill News<\/a>. The day before the Capitol riot, a more popular podcast, X22 Report, spoke confidently about a Trump second term, explained that Trump would need to \u201cremove\u201d many members of Congress to further his plans and said \u201cWe the people, we are the storm,and we\u2019re coming to DC.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both are available on Apple and Google podcast platforms.<\/p>\n

Podcasting \u201cplays a particularly outsized role\u201d in propagating white supremacy, said a\u00a02018 report<\/a>\u00a0from the Anti-Defamation League. Many white supremacists, like QAnon adherents, support Trump. Podcasting\u2019s an intimate, humanizing mode of communication that lets extremists expound on their ideas for hours at a time, said Oren Segal of ADL\u2019s Center on Extremism.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere on social media,\u00a0Twitter,<\/a>Facebook\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0YouTube<\/a>\u00a0have been cracking down on accounts amplifying unfounded\u00a0QAnon claims<\/a>\u00a0that Trump is fighting deep state enemies and cannibals operating a child-sex trafficking ring. A major talk radio company, Cumulus,\u00a0told its hosts<\/a>\u00a0to tone down rhetoric about stolen elections and violent uprisings or risk termination, although it\u2019s not clear what impact that dictate has had.<\/p>\n

Google-owned YouTube axed \u201cBannon\u2019s War Room,\u201d a channel run by Trump loyalist Steve Bannon on Jan. 8 after he spread false election claims and called for the beheading of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious-disease expert. But podcast versions of Bannon\u2019s show live on at Apple and Google. Spotify took it down in November,\u00a0according to one of its hosts.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Podcasts
Podcasts made available by Apple and Google let you tune into the world of the QAnon conspiracy theory, wallow in President Donald Trump\u2019s false claims of a stolen election and bask in other extremism. <\/figcaption>
AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cPodcasts filled with hatred and incitement to violence should not be treated any differently than any other content,\u201d Segal said. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to take a strong stance against hate and extremism in the platform in any way, it should be all-inclusive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apple, Spotify and Google curate lists of top podcasts and recommend them to users. Apple and Spotify are the dominant players in the US, with other players far behind, said Dave Zohrob, CEO of the podcast analytics firm Chartable. Despite its name recognition, Google remains a tiny presence.<\/p>\n

Spotify said it takes down podcasts that violate its policies against hate speech, copyright violations or break any laws, using \u201calgorithmic and human detection measures\u201d to identify violations.\u00a0Apple\u2019s guidelines<\/a>\u00a0prohibit content that is illegal or promotes violence, graphic sex or drugs or is \u201cotherwise considered obscene, objectionable, or in poor taste.\u201d Apple did not reply to repeated questions about its content guidelines or moderation.<\/p>\n

Google declined to explain the discrepancy between what\u2019s available on YouTube and what\u2019s on Google Podcasts, saying only that its podcast service \u201cindexes audio available on the web\u201d much the way its search engine indexes web pages. The company said it removes podcasts from its platform \u201cin very rare circumstances, largely guided by local law.\u201d<\/p>\n

X22 Report and Bannon\u2019s War Room were No. 20 and No. 32 on Apple\u2019s list of top podcasts on Friday. (Experts say that list measures a podcast\u2019s momentum rather than total listeners.) X22 Report said in October that it was suspended by YouTube and Spotify and last week by Twitter. It\u2019s no longer available on Facebook, either. It is supported by ads for products such as survivalist food, unlicensed food supplements and gold coins, which run before and during the podcasts.<\/p>\n

The website for Red Pill News said YouTube banned its videos in October and that a Twitter suspension followed. The podcast is available on Apple and Google, but not Spotify.<\/p>\n

Several QAnon proponents affected by the crackdown\u00a0sued YouTube in October<\/a>, calling its actions a \u201cmassive de-platforming.\u201d Among the plaintiffs are X22 Report, RedPill78 and David Hayes, who runs another conspiracy podcast called Praying Medic that\u2019s available on Apple and Google, but not Spotify.<\/p>\n

Melody Torres, who podcasts at SoulWarrior Uncensored, self-identifies as a longtime QAnon follower and said in a recent episode that her podcast is \u201cjust my way of not being censored.\u201d She said she was kicked off Twitter in January and booted from Instagram four times last year. She currently has Instagram, Facebook and YouTube accounts; her podcast is available on Apple and Google. Spotify removed the podcast Friday after The Associated Press inquired about it.<\/p>\n

X22 Report, RedPill78 and Hayes did not respond to requests for comment sent via their websites. Torres did not reply to a Facebook message.<\/p>\n

Podcasts suffer from the same misinformation problem as other platforms, said Shane Creevy, head of editorial for Kinzen, a startup created by former Facebook and Twitter executives that offers a disinformation tracker to companies, including some that host or curate podcasts.<\/p>\n

Creevy points out that it\u2019s harder to analyze misinformation from video and audio than from text. Podcasts can also run for hours, making them difficult to monitor. And podcasting has additional challenges in that there are no reliable statistics on their audience, unlike a YouTube stream, which shows views, or a tweet or Facebook post, which shows likes and shares, Creevy said.<\/p>\n

But some argue that tech-company moderation is opaque and inconsistent, creating a new set of problems. Censorship \u201cgoes with the tide against what\u2019s popular in any given moment,\u201d said Jillian York, an expert at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital-rights group. Right now, she said, \u201cthat tide is against the speech of right-wing extremists \u2026 but tomorrow the tide might be against opposition activists.\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n