The main social platforms fought against the spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories during the presidential election and expanded their efforts following the riots in the January 6 Chapter. But Apple and Google, among others, have left a major gap open for this material: Podcasts.
The podcasts provided by the two Big Tech companies allow you to connect to the QAnon conspiracy theory, lie about President Donald Trump’s allegations about stolen elections, and enjoy other extremisms. Accounts that have been banned on social networks for misinforming elections, threats or aggression and violating other rules are also in place as podcasts available on the platforms of technology giants.
Conspiracy theorists have trafficked in stolen electoral fantasies, coronavirus conspiracies, and violent rhetoric. A podcast, RedPill78, called the siege of the Chapter an “organized event” in a Jan. 11 episode of Red Pill News. The day before the Capitol Uprising, a more popular podcast, X22 Report, spoke confidently about Trump’s second term, explaining that Trump will have to “remove” many members of Congress to continue his plans. he said, “We humans are the storm and we are coming to DC. ”
Both are available on the Apple and Google podcast platforms.
The podcast “plays a big role” in spreading white supremacy, he said Report 2018 from the Anti-Defamation League. Many white supremacists, such as QAnon supporters, support Trump. The podcast is an intimate, humanizing way of communicating that allows extremists to express their ideas for hours on end, said Oren Segal of ADL’s Center on Extremism.
Elsewhere on social media, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube reduced the bills amplifying the unfounded claims of QAnon that Trump is fighting deep state enemies and cannibals operating a child trafficking ring. A major radio company, Cumulus, told its hosts to mitigate the rhetoric about stolen elections and violent uprisings or the cessation of risk, although it is not clear what impact that dictation had.
YouTube, owned by Google, set up “Bannon’s War Room”, a channel run by Trump loyalist Steve Bannon, on January 8, after spreading false electoral claims and demanding the beheading of Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s greatest disease expert. infectious. But podcast versions of Bannon’s show are broadcast live on Apple and Google. Spotify took it down in November, according to one of its hosts.
“Podcasts full of hate and incitement to violence should not be treated differently from any other content,” Segal said. “If you want to take a strong stand against hatred and extremism in the platform in any way, it should be integrated.”
Apple, Spotify and Google organize 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 podcast analytics firm Chartable. Despite the recognition of its name, Google remains a tiny presence.
Spotify said it eliminates podcasts that violate its policies against hate speech, copyright infringement or violation of any law, using “algorithmic and human detection measures” to identify violations. Apple guidelines prohibits content that is illegal or promotes violence, graphic sex or drugs or that is “considered otherwise obscene, unacceptable or in bad taste”. Apple has not responded to repeated questions about the guidelines or moderation of its content.
Google declined to explain the discrepancy between what’s available on YouTube and what’s on Google Podcasts, saying only that its podcast service “indexes available audio on the web” just as its search engine indexes web pages. The company said it was removing podcasts from its platform “in very rare circumstances, largely guided by local law.”
The X22 report and Bannon’s War Room were number 20 and number 32 on Apple’s top podcast list on Friday. (Experts say the list measures the momentum of a podcast rather than total listeners.) The X22 report said in October that it was suspended by YouTube and Spotify and last week by Twitter. It is no longer available on Facebook either. It is backed by ads for products such as surviving food, unlicensed food supplements and gold coins, which run before and during podcasts.
The site for Red Pill News said that YouTube banned its videos in October and that a suspension on Twitter followed. The podcast is available on Apple and Google, but not on Spotify.
Several QAnon supporters affected by the crackdown sued YouTube in October, calling its actions a “massive de-platforming”. The plaintiffs include X22 Report, RedPill78 and David Hayes, who runs another conspiracy podcast called Praying Medic, available on Apple and Google, but not on Spotify.
Melody Torres, who podcasts on SoulWarrior Uncensored, has long identified herself as a QAnon follower and said in a recent episode that her podcast is “just my way of not being censored.” She said she was fired from Twitter in January and launched by Instagram four times last year. He currently has Instagram, Facebook and YouTube accounts; her podcast is available on Spotify, Apple and Google.
X22 Report, RedPill78, and Hayes did not respond to requests for comment submitted through their websites. Torres did not reply to a message on Facebook.
Podcasts suffer from the same misinformation problem as other platforms, said Shane Creevey, head of editorial for Kinzen, a startup created by former executives on Facebook and Twitter that provides a misinformation tracker to companies, including those that host or organize podcasts. -hate.
Creevey points out that it is more difficult to analyze misinformation in video and audio than in text. Podcasts can run for hours on end, making them difficult to monitor. And the podcast has additional challenges in that there are no reliable statistics about their audience, as opposed to a YouTube feed that displays views, or a tweet or Facebook post that shows appreciation and distribution, Creevey said.
But some argue that the moderation of the technology company is opaque and inconsistent, creating a new set of problems. Censorship “goes against what is popular at one point,” said Jillian York, an expert at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group. Right now, she said, “that wave is against the discourse of right-wing extremists … but tomorrow the wave could be against opposition activists.”
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AP Technology Editor David Hamilton contributed to this article.