YouTube and the Radicalization Debate

In June 2019, New York Times reporter Kevin Roose wrote The Making of a YouTube Radical, a story about how a 26-year-old man, Caleb Cain, was radicalized through YouTube. For the story, Roose examined Cain’s entire YouTube history, and plotted the path he took toward radicalization. Software engineer and researcher Mark Ledwich took issue with the story, citing his own research and claiming the notion that YouTube could radicalize was a myth.  

Instead of yelling at — and past — each other, Ledwich and Roose came together for a moderated debate on the Big Technology Podcast, where both stated their points of view, got a chance to respond to each other’s points, and ask each other questions. 

Further reading:

Kevin's story:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/08/technology/youtube-radical.html

Rabbit Hole podcast:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/podcasts/rabbit-hole-prologue.html

Ledwich's story:

https://mark-ledwich.medium.com/youtube-radicalization-an-authoritative-saucy-story-28f73953ed17

Ledwich's research visualization:

https://recfluence.net/

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