Introduction#

With the advent of Covid 19, the right-wing populist conspiracy discourse gained further momentum and social media attention to these topics increased. This movement is usually referred to as the lateral thinking movement (Querdenker-Bewegung) and unites anti-vaccinationists, esotericists, conspiracy theorists and right-wingers in one group [Müller, 2022]. But also people who have had little political involvement are part of this new movement [Müller, 2022]. One reason why this movement has grown so much in recent years are social networks. These make it possible for the different groups to connect with each other, which makes the continuous and widespread dissemination of false information and fake news. They use social media platforms to share and spread their worldview [Müller, 2022]. The main social media platform for communication of this movement is Telegram and there has also been a lot of coverage in the media about how this movement is using the platform for themselves [Müller, 2022]. The main reason for this is the lack of content moderation on Telegram, which allows the sharing of such content without restrictions, and the privacy-friendly encryption of chats [Müller, 2022]. But Telegram is not the only social media platform that is widely used by the lateral thinking movement. The comments and opinions of this group have also become more and more present on other social media platforms.

One of the social media platforms which is also frequently used is YouTube [Rauchfleisch and Kaiser, 2020, Reichardt et al., 2021]. If one looks at the comments under the videos of the “tagesschau” channel, one can get the impression that these comments often belong to this discourse and do not necessarily always fit the content of the video. The aim of this project report is therefore to find out to what extent this assumption is correct and whether the comments section under the videos of the “tagesschau” channel is really dominated by the lateral thinking movement. In order to achieve this, we will try to find answers to the following questions:

  • Which topics are dominant in the comments section below the videos?

  • How many comments can be attributed to the lateral thinking movement?

  • How dominant are right-wing comments?

  • What is the general sentiment in the comments section?

  • Do the comments of lateral thinkers make up the majority of all comments?

The “tagesschau” channel was chosen because the comments were striking on the one hand and on the other hand because it is a channel from one of the public broadcasters. For the lateral thinking movement, the public broadcasters are a kind of symbol of the mainstream media and are often criticised for this reason [Holzer, 2021, Reichardt et al., 2021]. As politics is often the focus of criticism by the lateral thinkers, the public broadcasters are particularly polarising. Another example of polarisation are the so-called defectors, i.e. people who previously worked for the mainstream media, because they get a lot of attention and support from the movement [Reichardt et al., 2021]. In some cases, the mainstream media are even accused of deliberately spreading false information [Holzer, 2021, Reichardt et al., 2021].

YouTube#

YouTube is a widely-used social media platform that was launched in 2005 [Ruby, 2023]. It quickly became one of the most popular websites in the world with over 2 billion active users [Ruby, 2023]. The platform allows anyone to upload videos and share them with a global audience, making it an important tool for communication and self-expression [Rauchfleisch and Kaiser, 2020]. It is also a powerful tool for entertainment, with users able to access music, movie trailers, and other forms of content.

YouTube has become a major source of information for many people, with users turning to the platform for news, education, and political content. It is especially powerful in its ability to reach younger generations and those who are not reached by traditional forms of media [Rauchfleisch and Kaiser, 2020]. However, despite its significance, YouTube has been understudied in political studies [Rauchfleisch and Kaiser, 2020]. The platform’s role in shaping public opinion, spreading political information and how it influences political campaigns is an area of ongoing research.

Additionally, YouTube is also a powerful tool for political campaigns and organizing. Many political figures and parties have their own YouTube channels, and use the platform to disseminate information and engage with their supporters. YouTube’s ability to target specific audiences and measure the success of campaigns make it an important tool for political organizations.

In summary, YouTube is an influential social media platform with a wide-ranging impact on society, culture, and politics. For these reasons, it is also used by the lateral thinking movement to disseminate their content and many supporters of the movement are active on the platform [Rauchfleisch and Kaiser, 2020].

Lateral thinking movement on YouTube#

YouTube is an important platform for the lateral thinking movement, if not the second most important after Telegram, as Holzer has shown in a study of the communication of the lateral thinking movement [Holzer, 2021]. This observation is particularly interesting because many channels that can be attributed to this movement have already been blocked by YouTube [Holzer, 2021]. Nevertheless, the Telegram channels often link to YouTube videos [Holzer, 2021]. One possible reason for this could be that YouTube, in contrast to other social media platforms, offers the possibility of distributing video content that is similar in format to classic media.