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Does Deplatforming Work? Unintended consequences of banning far-right content creators

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  • Danny Klinenberg

    (University of California, Santa Barbara)

Abstract

Social media has become an outlet for extremists to fundraise and organize on, potentially leading to deadly consequences. While governments deliberate on how to regulate this challenge, some social media companies have removed creators of offensive content—deplatforming. I estimate the effects of deplatforming on revenue and viewership, using variation in the timing of removals across two video-streaming companies- YouTube, and its far-right competitor, Bitchute. I construct a novel dataset including Bitcoin wallets linking YouTube and Bitchute accounts for 79 far-right content creators, including propagandists for violent domestic extremist movements. Being deplatformed on YouTube results in a 30% increase in weekly Bitcoin revenue and a 50% increase in viewership on Bitchute. This increase in Bitchute activity accounts for about 65% of the estimated foregone revenue and 5.9% of viewership lost from YouTube, implying a negative net effect of deplatforming.

Suggested Citation

  • Danny Klinenberg, 2022. "Does Deplatforming Work? Unintended consequences of banning far-right content creators," Empirical Studies of Conflict Project (ESOC) Working Papers 31, Empirical Studies of Conflict Project.
    • Handle: RePEc:pri:esocpu:31
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    File URL: https://esoc.princeton.edu/WP31
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    JEL classification:

    • L86 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software

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