"The YouTube Effect" - Tribeca Film Fest Review
The YouTube Effect is a documentary that attempts to track the positive and negative aspects of the video-sharing platform. It was first created by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, Jawed Karim in 2005. They were inspired by a website called “Hot Or Not,” where users could upload pictures of themselves and people would give the pictures a numerical rating. Chen, Hurley, and Karim thought there might be value in having a site where people could upload videos instead of pictures. And thus, YouTube was born.
In the early days, YouTube was filled with pretty mundane clips. A walk through a zoo, a cat drinking water, that sort of thing. Today YouTube has irrevocably morphed into something the creators never could have fathomed. There are YouTube celebrities, conventions, and repercussions that were unimaginable when the site launched. Content has strayed from home video-type content to highly polished, professionally edited clips.
There’s a particularly striking sequence at the beginning of the film that cuts between one of the first viral videos, “Charlie Bit My Finger,” and the rise of alt-right content. It’s a succinct means of demonstrating the way YouTube has been weaponized. The algorithm that runs YouTube has created a gateway for radicalizing people who are desperate to have a place to belong. Caleb Cain is prominently featured in the documentary as he recounts how he became wrapped up in the alt-right world and how YouTube played a pivotal role in his journey. Cain was in a dark place mentally and desperately wanted to find a sense of belonging. He didn’t have far to look. Ten percent of videos recommended by YouTube are conspiracy theory videos. Once a user watches a few of those, all the content that’s recommended to them falls along the same lines and pulls them deeper into that world.
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The YouTube Effect is at times disheartening and uplifting. There are videos on the website that allow people to view lives that are different from their own. And videos that allow people to better understand themselves. There are sub genres of YouTube creators discussing their coming out experience or their journey to become pregnant. Or any number of DIY fixes and educational content. It’s proof that there is value in this massive means of sharing information. The question at the heart of The YouTube Effect is how much YouTube should police the content they host. Where do the promises of freedom of speech end? What about the father of Alison Parker who was a newscaster and killed on live tv. He is still trying to have videos of her death taken off the site, but he doesn’t own the copyright and therefore has no legal right to force the removal of the videos.
This film could be expanded into a full series and there still wouldn’t be enough time for an in-depth look at the lasting effects YouTube has had on our society. One of the participants points to YouTube as the beginning of the “misinformation apocalypse.” The YouTube Effect is a worthwhile attempt at understanding how the site has changed society’s collective consciousness and its ability to develop empathy.
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