YouTube aids flat earth conspiracy theorists, research suggests

[Eugene]

Source: BBC

YouTube aids flat earth conspiracy theorists, research suggests

18 February 2019

YouTube is playing a significant role in convincing some people that the Earth is flat, research suggests.

A study quizzed people at flat earth conferences and found most cited videos viewed on the site as a key influence.

They were won over by videos which claimed to amass evidence proving the Earth was not a spherical planet.

YouTube needed to do a better job of ensuring visitors get accurate information alongside such videos, said the researcher behind the study.

"There's a lot of helpful information on YouTube but also a lot of misinformation," Prof Asheley Landrum from Texas Tech University, who carried out the study, told The Guardian.

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Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47279253

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Source: The Guardian

Study blames YouTube for rise in number of Flat Earthers

Conspiracy theories shown on video-sharing site persuade people to doubt Earth is round

Ian Sample Science editor
Sun 17 Feb 2019 20.30 GMT

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Their suspicion was raised when they attended the world’s largest gatherings of Flat Earthers at the movement’s annual conference in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 2017, and then in Denver, Colorado, last year.

Interviews with 30 attendees revealed a pattern in the stories people told about how they came to be convinced that the Earth was not a large round rock spinning through space but a large flat disc doing much the same thing.

Of the 30, all but one said they had not considered the Earth to be flat two years ago but changed their minds after watching videos promoting conspiracy theories on YouTube. “The only person who didn’t say this was there with his daughter and his son-in-law and they had seen it on YouTube and told him about it,” said Asheley Landrum, who led the research at Texas Tech University.

The interviews revealed that most had been watching videos about other conspiracies, with alternative takes on 9/11, the Sandy Hook school shooting and whether Nasa really went to the moon, when YouTube offered up Flat Earth videos for them to watch next.

Some said they watched the videos only in order to debunk them but soon found themselves won over by the material.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/feb/17/study-blames-youtube-for-rise-in-number-of-flat-earthers