Pub Date : 2026-01-27DOI: 10.1177/14614448251410510
Ida Roivainen
To explore the strengthening role of influencer marketing agencies, this study turns its focus away from creators to the ‘backstage’ of feminised social media work. Using an algorithmic ethnographic approach informed by critical feminist inquiry, this study investigates how influencer marketing agencies’ data practices shape content creation. Through observation and content analysis of creator events, staff meetings, briefings, webinars and other educational material, as well as interviews with staff members, three distinct categories connected with data practices were recognised: anticipation, adaptation and negotiation. It is argued that while influencer agencies negotiate between creation and platform control, they only rarely resist the algorithmic logics of platforms or negotiate practices to fit their ideals instead of adapting to platforms and their business models. Situating agencies’ daily work within the larger historical tradition of advertising, commodification of audiences and feminised labour, this study offers pathways for understanding how influencer marketing shapes social media today.
{"title":"At the backstage of feminised content creation: How influencer marketing agencies and their data practices shape social media work","authors":"Ida Roivainen","doi":"10.1177/14614448251410510","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251410510","url":null,"abstract":"To explore the strengthening role of influencer marketing agencies, this study turns its focus away from creators to the ‘backstage’ of feminised social media work. Using an algorithmic ethnographic approach informed by critical feminist inquiry, this study investigates how influencer marketing agencies’ data practices shape content creation. Through observation and content analysis of creator events, staff meetings, briefings, webinars and other educational material, as well as interviews with staff members, three distinct categories connected with data practices were recognised: anticipation, adaptation and negotiation. It is argued that while influencer agencies negotiate between creation and platform control, they only rarely resist the algorithmic logics of platforms or negotiate practices to fit their ideals instead of adapting to platforms and their business models. Situating agencies’ daily work within the larger historical tradition of advertising, commodification of audiences and feminised labour, this study offers pathways for understanding how influencer marketing shapes social media today.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"60 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146048491","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-27DOI: 10.1177/14614448251413711
L. Lusike Mukhongo, Chad Edwards, Autumn Edwards, Cynthia Klekar Cunningham, Winston Mano, Habeeb Abdulrauf, Abdullah Mohaimen
In regions with unreliable electricity and limited Internet access, low- power AI tools offer scalable solutions for low-bandwidth environments. In Kenya’s Mau Forest, AI-generated SMS messages on low-power feature phones offer possibilities for advancing climate justice for Ogiek Indigenous people. Through interviews, focus group discussions, and direct observation, the study examined how low-power AI SMS systems can be integrated with Indigenous Knowledge to enhance land rights, food security, and climate resilience. While challenges such as electricity, Internet connectivity, and cost of airtime persist, the key drivers for adoption emerged as community trust in co-designed low-power tools, alongside their usability. The study demonstrates the affordances of co- designed, low-power tech in mediating user priorities and underscores data sovereignty as a fundamental expression of indigeneity in reclaiming agency over their digital futures.
{"title":"Technological affordances, low-power AI, and climate justice among the Ogiek in Kenya’s Mau forest","authors":"L. Lusike Mukhongo, Chad Edwards, Autumn Edwards, Cynthia Klekar Cunningham, Winston Mano, Habeeb Abdulrauf, Abdullah Mohaimen","doi":"10.1177/14614448251413711","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251413711","url":null,"abstract":"In regions with unreliable electricity and limited Internet access, low- power AI tools offer scalable solutions for low-bandwidth environments. In Kenya’s Mau Forest, AI-generated SMS messages on low-power feature phones offer possibilities for advancing climate justice for Ogiek Indigenous people. Through interviews, focus group discussions, and direct observation, the study examined how low-power AI SMS systems can be integrated with Indigenous Knowledge to enhance land rights, food security, and climate resilience. While challenges such as electricity, Internet connectivity, and cost of airtime persist, the key drivers for adoption emerged as community trust in co-designed low-power tools, alongside their usability. The study demonstrates the affordances of co- designed, low-power tech in mediating user priorities and underscores data sovereignty as a fundamental expression of indigeneity in reclaiming agency over their digital futures.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146048488","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-26DOI: 10.1177/14614448251411262
Jorge Peña, Camren Allen, Jeffrey Tsifan Tseng, Vivian Hsueh Hua Chen, Gabrielle C. Ibasco, Wei Jie Dominic Koek
This study employed virtual reality (VR) to examine how avatar embodiment (self vs stranger), virtual human race (ingroup vs outgroup), and contact valence (positive vs negative) influence intergroup attitudes. US participants ( N = 262) assigned to avatars displaying a stranger’s face, rather than their own, showed greater acceptance of outgroup virtual humans. Perceived identifiability mediated the influence of avatar face on self-other overlap. Social dominance orientation moderated this effect, as mediation was strongest among individuals with average and high scores. Positive contact enhanced self-other overlap with virtual humans, whereas negative contact unexpectedly increased empathy for outgroup members. Ingroup negative contact boosted positive ingroup feelings among participants using avatars that mirrored their own face. Consistent with positive ingroup biases, individuals reported greater positive feelings and empathy toward ingroup members following ingroup (vs outgroup) interactions. The results provided evidence regarding the theoretical mechanisms through which VR contact reduces and boosts prejudice.
{"title":"Intergroup contact in virtual reality: The influence of avatar identity, social identity, and contact valence on prejudice","authors":"Jorge Peña, Camren Allen, Jeffrey Tsifan Tseng, Vivian Hsueh Hua Chen, Gabrielle C. Ibasco, Wei Jie Dominic Koek","doi":"10.1177/14614448251411262","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251411262","url":null,"abstract":"This study employed virtual reality (VR) to examine how avatar embodiment (self vs stranger), virtual human race (ingroup vs outgroup), and contact valence (positive vs negative) influence intergroup attitudes. US participants ( <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">N</jats:italic> = 262) assigned to avatars displaying a stranger’s face, rather than their own, showed greater acceptance of outgroup virtual humans. Perceived identifiability mediated the influence of avatar face on self-other overlap. Social dominance orientation moderated this effect, as mediation was strongest among individuals with average and high scores. Positive contact enhanced self-other overlap with virtual humans, whereas negative contact unexpectedly increased empathy for outgroup members. Ingroup negative contact boosted positive ingroup feelings among participants using avatars that mirrored their own face. Consistent with positive ingroup biases, individuals reported greater positive feelings and empathy toward ingroup members following ingroup (vs outgroup) interactions. The results provided evidence regarding the theoretical mechanisms through which VR contact reduces and boosts prejudice.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"291 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146048492","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-23DOI: 10.1177/14614448251409208
Michael Hameleers, Toni van der Meer
Although visual and AI-generated disinformation have been associated with alarming political consequences, we currently lack a clear empirical understanding of the effects of different forms of visual disinformation. Against this background, we rely on a pre-registered experimental study in the United States ( N = 982) in which we exposed participants to various modes of textual and visual disinformation on two different issues: The disappearance of flight MH370 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Findings show that, for MH370, there was no difference in credibility between textual, AI-generated, or video-based disinformation. Yet, for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, video-based disinformation was perceived as more credible than textual or image-based disinformation. Our findings indicate that the consequences of visual disinformation are context-bound: Especially in the case of polarizing issues, the out-of-context placement of videos can serve as a plausible form of deceptive evidence.
{"title":"Beyond textual disinformation: Comparing the effects of textual disinformation to AI-generated and video-based visual disinformation across different issues","authors":"Michael Hameleers, Toni van der Meer","doi":"10.1177/14614448251409208","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251409208","url":null,"abstract":"Although visual and AI-generated disinformation have been associated with alarming political consequences, we currently lack a clear empirical understanding of the effects of different forms of visual disinformation. Against this background, we rely on a pre-registered experimental study in the United States ( <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">N</jats:italic> = 982) in which we exposed participants to various modes of textual and visual disinformation on two different issues: The disappearance of flight MH370 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Findings show that, for MH370, there was no difference in credibility between textual, AI-generated, or video-based disinformation. Yet, for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, video-based disinformation was perceived as more credible than textual or image-based disinformation. Our findings indicate that the consequences of visual disinformation are context-bound: Especially in the case of polarizing issues, the out-of-context placement of videos can serve as a plausible form of deceptive evidence.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"36 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146042678","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-23DOI: 10.1177/14614448251411526
Raquel Campos Valverde, D Bondy Valdovinos Kaye
This article analyzes music industry discourses about generative AI to understand competing and conflicting views across the industrial field. Our analysis mobilizes primary data from ethnographic fieldwork collected at music trade conferences between 2023 and 2024 and secondary data from trade press, corporate statements, reports published by governments, unions, and trade bodies. Our analysis illuminates tensions and contradictions among protectionist, liberalizing, and conciliatory views toward generative AI. Some corporate actors and public stakeholders advocate for protectionist business policies and “responsible” AI development that foregrounds potential harms of AI. Other corporate actors offer more liberalizing views, encouraging investment, experimentation, and adoption of generative AI systems to cut costs and increase profits. We also note conciliatory positions, mainly from musicians’ unions and trade bodies, trying to find compromises between these two poles. We argue that these contradictions reveal a fundamentally misunderstood notion of universal AI ethics in the music industry.
{"title":"“A safe, responsible, and profitable ecosystem of music”: Analyzing perceptions and implementation of generative AI in the music industry","authors":"Raquel Campos Valverde, D Bondy Valdovinos Kaye","doi":"10.1177/14614448251411526","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251411526","url":null,"abstract":"This article analyzes music industry discourses about generative AI to understand competing and conflicting views across the industrial field. Our analysis mobilizes primary data from ethnographic fieldwork collected at music trade conferences between 2023 and 2024 and secondary data from trade press, corporate statements, reports published by governments, unions, and trade bodies. Our analysis illuminates tensions and contradictions among protectionist, liberalizing, and conciliatory views toward generative AI. Some corporate actors and public stakeholders advocate for protectionist business policies and “responsible” AI development that foregrounds potential harms of AI. Other corporate actors offer more liberalizing views, encouraging investment, experimentation, and adoption of generative AI systems to cut costs and increase profits. We also note conciliatory positions, mainly from musicians’ unions and trade bodies, trying to find compromises between these two poles. We argue that these contradictions reveal a fundamentally misunderstood notion of universal AI ethics in the music industry.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146042680","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-23DOI: 10.1177/14614448251413695
Alexis Shore Ingber
The screenshot feature has offered human communication researchers a way to document participants’ digital lives without technical expertise nor compromising ecological validity. Despite its widespread utility, there have been limited remarks on the perils of the screenshot feature as a methodological tool to capture the digital world. This article reflects on human communication research which has leveraged the screenshot feature. In doing so, I focus on bystanders , or non-consenting participants whose data are implicated by researchers’ use of the screenshot feature. Considering relevant US law, internationally recognized ethics frameworks, and user expectations across digital platforms from which screenshots are collected, this article offers guidelines for researchers and policymakers about usage of and building formal restrictions around the screenshot feature, respectively. I argue usage of the screenshot feature in human communication research must (1) obscure sensitive and extraneous participant data, (2) recognize platform-specific user expectations, and (3) protect bystander privacy.
{"title":"Screenshots in human communication research: Protecting privacy in light of law, ethics and user expectations","authors":"Alexis Shore Ingber","doi":"10.1177/14614448251413695","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251413695","url":null,"abstract":"The screenshot feature has offered human communication researchers a way to document participants’ digital lives without technical expertise nor compromising ecological validity. Despite its widespread utility, there have been limited remarks on the perils of the screenshot feature as a methodological tool to capture the digital world. This article reflects on human communication research which has leveraged the screenshot feature. In doing so, I focus on <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">bystanders</jats:italic> , or non-consenting participants whose data are implicated by researchers’ use of the screenshot feature. Considering relevant US law, internationally recognized ethics frameworks, and user expectations across digital platforms from which screenshots are collected, this article offers guidelines for researchers and policymakers about usage of and building formal restrictions around the screenshot feature, respectively. I argue usage of the screenshot feature in human communication research must (1) obscure sensitive and extraneous participant data, (2) recognize platform-specific user expectations, and (3) protect bystander privacy.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146042679","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-21DOI: 10.1177/14614448251397398
Ben Egliston
This article examines the role of venture capital (VC) in the financialisation of the videogame industry. It analyses investment data to map the political economy of VC in the videogame industry and public-facing industry discourse to explore how VCs frame their investments. Findings show that VC investment is concentrated in scalable, high-growth areas such as mobile gaming, production and distribution infrastructure and emerging technologies like blockchain and AI. Investment is largely early-stage and geographically skewed towards established technology and production hubs. Discursively, VCs position themselves as driving technological innovation and cultural growth, and as playing a key role in shaping the industry’s future. The article contributes to debates on financialisation in the media industries by situating VC as a key (yet underexamined) institutional actor in contemporary game production.
{"title":"From hits to unicorns: Venture capital in the videogame industry","authors":"Ben Egliston","doi":"10.1177/14614448251397398","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251397398","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the role of venture capital (VC) in the financialisation of the videogame industry. It analyses investment data to map the political economy of VC in the videogame industry and public-facing industry discourse to explore how VCs frame their investments. Findings show that VC investment is concentrated in scalable, high-growth areas such as mobile gaming, production and distribution infrastructure and emerging technologies like blockchain and AI. Investment is largely early-stage and geographically skewed towards established technology and production hubs. Discursively, VCs position themselves as driving technological innovation and cultural growth, and as playing a key role in shaping the industry’s future. The article contributes to debates on financialisation in the media industries by situating VC as a key (yet underexamined) institutional actor in contemporary game production.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"184 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146014306","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-21DOI: 10.1177/14614448251411264
Michaelanne Thomas, Sylvia Darling
We examine how people collectively and creatively appropriate information communication technology (ICT) in Havana, Cuba, to navigate persistent scarcity and pursue a more stable life. Drawing on interviews and ethnographic data, we center resolver —an emic term for both an informal acquisition process and a problem-solving mindset—as a dynamic, collective strategy. This practice underpins aspirations for a “decent” life, locally understood as adequacy, stability, and solidarity. Our findings show ICT appropriation is deeply intertwined with evolving moral judgments and solidarity, requiring continual negotiation of legality, necessity, and communal values. Rather than uniformly empowering, ICT use mediates inclusion and exclusion, highlighting new forms of inequality. By theorizing resolver as a recursive and context-dependent process, we provide an analytical lens for examining how digital technologies shape aspirations, collective life, and the boundaries of decency in resource-constrained environments.
{"title":"Aspiring toward decency: Collectively and creatively appropriating information communication technology in Havana","authors":"Michaelanne Thomas, Sylvia Darling","doi":"10.1177/14614448251411264","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251411264","url":null,"abstract":"We examine how people collectively and creatively appropriate information communication technology (ICT) in Havana, Cuba, to navigate persistent scarcity and pursue a more stable life. Drawing on interviews and ethnographic data, we center <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">resolver</jats:italic> —an emic term for both an informal acquisition process and a problem-solving mindset—as a dynamic, collective strategy. This practice underpins aspirations for a “decent” life, locally understood as adequacy, stability, and solidarity. Our findings show ICT appropriation is deeply intertwined with evolving moral judgments and solidarity, requiring continual negotiation of legality, necessity, and communal values. Rather than uniformly empowering, ICT use mediates inclusion and exclusion, highlighting new forms of inequality. By theorizing <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">resolver</jats:italic> as a recursive and context-dependent process, we provide an analytical lens for examining how digital technologies shape aspirations, collective life, and the boundaries of decency in resource-constrained environments.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"101 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146014303","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-21DOI: 10.1177/14614448251413141
Veronika Borovinski
The recent global rise of far-right ideologies has been accompanied by the normalization of these ideas in online communication. However, little is known about the strategies employed by the far right to drive this trend, particularly outside Western countries and major platforms. This study addresses these gaps by conducting a systematic content analysis of far-right content on VK (VKontakte), the most widely used Russian social network, to examine the content’s characteristics that facilitate the mainstreaming of the far right. Findings indicate that far-right actors leverage agenda-setting mechanisms and adopt news-like formats to embed xenophobic and exclusionary narratives within the broader mainstream Russian discourse. This study contributes to research on far-right content-related strategies and the interplay between non-Western contexts, digital affordances, and far-right communication in less regulated online spaces.
{"title":"Reaching a larger audience: Content-related strategies of the far right on VK","authors":"Veronika Borovinski","doi":"10.1177/14614448251413141","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251413141","url":null,"abstract":"The recent global rise of far-right ideologies has been accompanied by the normalization of these ideas in online communication. However, little is known about the strategies employed by the far right to drive this trend, particularly outside Western countries and major platforms. This study addresses these gaps by conducting a systematic content analysis of far-right content on VK (VKontakte), the most widely used Russian social network, to examine the content’s characteristics that facilitate the mainstreaming of the far right. Findings indicate that far-right actors leverage agenda-setting mechanisms and adopt news-like formats to embed xenophobic and exclusionary narratives within the broader mainstream Russian discourse. This study contributes to research on far-right content-related strategies and the interplay between non-Western contexts, digital affordances, and far-right communication in less regulated online spaces.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146014304","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-12DOI: 10.1177/14614448251409209
Bernhard Rieder, Bastian August, Brogan Latil
This article investigates the persistence and transformation of Andrew Tate’s presence on YouTube following the removal of his official channels in August 2022. Combining two empirical approaches—a small-scale analysis of top-ranked videos from YouTube search results in 2022 and 2024, and a large-scale data set of over 112k videos—we examine how Tate-related content continues to circulate and how the platform moderates such material. Our findings show that Tate remains highly visible through a diffuse and decentralized network of actors who repackage his messaging into interviews, remixes, and YouTube-native formats. This configuration produces what we term the “Tate-space”: an ambient ideological environment where motivational rhetoric, aspirational masculinity, and far-right talking points converge. We find that YouTube’s substantial moderation efforts are outpaced by the speed and scale of recommendation-driven circulation and that deplatforming, while symbolically significant, fails to disrupt the cultural and logistical dynamics that sustain Tate’s influence.
{"title":"The Tate-space on YouTube: Ambient ideology and the limits of platform moderation","authors":"Bernhard Rieder, Bastian August, Brogan Latil","doi":"10.1177/14614448251409209","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251409209","url":null,"abstract":"This article investigates the persistence and transformation of Andrew Tate’s presence on YouTube following the removal of his official channels in August 2022. Combining two empirical approaches—a small-scale analysis of top-ranked videos from YouTube search results in 2022 and 2024, and a large-scale data set of over 112k videos—we examine how Tate-related content continues to circulate and how the platform moderates such material. Our findings show that Tate remains highly visible through a diffuse and decentralized network of actors who repackage his messaging into interviews, remixes, and YouTube-native formats. This configuration produces what we term the “Tate-space”: an ambient ideological environment where motivational rhetoric, aspirational masculinity, and far-right talking points converge. We find that YouTube’s substantial moderation efforts are outpaced by the speed and scale of recommendation-driven circulation and that deplatforming, while symbolically significant, fails to disrupt the cultural and logistical dynamics that sustain Tate’s influence.","PeriodicalId":19149,"journal":{"name":"New Media & Society","volume":"144 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145949865","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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