"YouTube has become the place to learn how to do anything, from assembling an Ikea cabinet to making a Bluetooth connection with your earbuds. It is a font of tutorials, some very good, some meandering, some made by individuals who have become professionals at it and rake in serious sums through advertising. But many are uploaded by people who have solved something that frustrated them and want to share the answer with the world. The native language of the digital world is probably video, not text-a trend missed by the literate classes that dominated the public dialogue in the predigital era. I've noticed that many young people start their Web searches on YouTube. Besides, Google, which owns YouTube, highlights videos in its search results....Someone on YouTube has an answer. But the site has also been targeted by extremists, conspiracy theorists and reactionaries who understand its role as a gateway to information, especially for younger generations. And therein lies the dark side: YouTube makes money by keeping users on the site and showing them targeted ads. To keep them watching, it utilizes a recommendation system powered by top-of-the-line artificial intelligence (it's Google, after all). Indeed, after Google Brain, the company's AI division, took over YouTube's recommendations in 2015, there were laudatory articles on how it had significantly increased "engagement": Silicon Valley-speak for enticing you to stay on the site longer." "YouTube's algorithms will push whatever they deem engaging, and it appears they have figured out that wild claims, as well as hate speech and outrage peddling, can be particularly so."

"YouTube became the social media platform of the Brazilian right," said Mr. Dominguez, ....Members of the nation's newly empowered far right - from grass-roots organizers to federal lawmakers - say their movement would not have risen so far, so fast, without YouTube's recommendation engine. New research has found they may be correct. YouTube's search and recommendation system appears to have systematically diverted users to far-right and conspiracy channels in Brazil. A New York Times investigation in Brazil found that, time and again, videos promoted by the site have upended central elements of daily life. Teachers describe classrooms made unruly by students who quote from YouTube conspiracy videos or who, encouraged by right-wing YouTube stars, secretly record their instructors."