White Rabbit. The logic and proportion of conspiracy theory videos on YouTube: a Foucauldian discourse analysis

Conspiracy theories are everywhere. The internet has provided people with the tools for instantaneous, global communication and this has encouraged the spread of alternative narratives on a variety of platforms. This study is designed as a Foucauldian discourse analysis of how conspiracy theories disseminate and proliferate on YouTube, the pre-eminent provider of video streaming services. It aims to understand how the platform reflexively influences, and is influenced by, narratives of opposition and conflict, creating an online ‘reality’ which has the power to shape the world offline. Primarily, it addresses questions of whether YouTube promotes subversive thinking by accentuating conspiracy theory videos and recommending progressively extreme content. It also investigates how the design of the platform, including its powerful algorithm and embedded ‘social media’ functions, affects user experience and favours particular discourses over others. To achieve this, search terms were entered into YouTube, with recommended videos being studied and coded to reveal any extant bias. In addition to the content of the videos themselves, titles, descriptions, comments, further side-bar recommendations, likes, dislikes and view-counts were all recorded according to bias, providing an extensive overview of influences inherent to the YouTube platform. Results were analysed according to a Foucauldian discourse analysis which, following a multiperspectival approach, was subsequently summarised using a framework developed by Uldam & Kaun. Patterns were discovered indicating a propensity towards the propagation of increasingly extremist material. Furthermore, various discourses, including those of ambiguity, conflict and surprise, were found to proliferate on YouTube, with conspiracy theories actively benefitting from the algorithmic and thematic functions of the website. Overall, the study elucidates how power struggles enacted in online spaces are affected by their environments and, in turn, can have an effect on the beliefs and behaviour of people worldwide