External Audit
Portrayal of Migrants on YouTube
The video platform perpetuates a dehumanizing image of migrants, and its recommender system rewards xenophobic narratives, which feeds back into a context of a rising far right political discourse.
Migration · Youtube · Deshumanization ·
With more than 2.5 billion followers, YouTube is the second most used social network, and has become one of the main sources of news. This apparent democratization of content is not without risk, due to the impact that the media have on individual and public attitudes towards migration.
This audit, the first one about migrant representation in YouTube, explores how the platform perpetuates a dehumanizing image of migrants and rewards xenophobic narratives, which feeds back into a context of rising far right political discourse.
The migration narrative of traditional media has been widely studied, but not the social networks, despite the rapid increase in their users. The studies on social media confirm the same narrative trend: migration as a threat, and the underrepresentation of the migrants themselves when it comes to communicating their own stories.
70%
of YouTube videos are suggested by their video recommendation system
2.5B
users on YouTube
75%
of thumbnails of top watched videos depict migrants in a border crossing setting
76%
of videos fed to users with migrant background featured non-white migrants in large groups
In the top watched videos, migrants are often represented as faceless masses, which prevents empathy and portrays them as a threat
The migration narrative of traditional media has been widely studied, but not the social networks, despite the rapid increase in their users. The studies on social media confirm the same narrative trend: migration as a threat, and the underrepresentation of the migrants themselves when it comes to communicating their own stories.
In the most viewed YouTube videos, migrants are shown as anonymous masses with no recognizable faces to empathize with, mostly non-white adult men, and frequently with the presence of armed forces. At best, they are portrayed as victims without agency.
Another interesting result is the difference between the representation of “migrants” and “refugees”, the latter being a concept created after World War II to differentiate European asylum seekers from those from other regions. Unlike the migrants, the refugees in the videos are mostly recognizable individuals, white men and women, and less often in a border-crossing context.
YouTube feeds the same kind of pejorative content to users regardless of their context or background
When comparing the kind of videos fed by its recommender system to anti-migration and pro-migration contexts, the audit concludes there is not a big difference in the content YouTube promotes. Most of the videos advance the same narrative as the platform’s top watched: with negative and dehumanizing undertones. The same happened when we compared the videos that were recommended to people with and without migrant background. The kind of content did not significatively differ, and the majority reproduced prejudiced stereotypes and depicted migrants as helpless victims that need saving.
In this case, we see how echo chambers happen only in anti-migration contexts, or with profiles without a migrant background. Considering the impact YouTube has on public opinion, this phenomenon can lead to polarization, radicalization, and ultimately threaten democratic values, which ironically, is the danger that xenophobic discourses attribute to migration.
This also has a negative effect on migrants’ self perception and self worth, adding on to their vulnerable situation.
Migrants highlight the negative effects of victimizing narratives, and the double standards in the treatment of migrants vs refugees
In addition to quantitative data, the audit also offers a qualitative approach by interviewing migrants. Although most use social media, mainly to keep in touch with their community, they are aware of how these networks foster a negative and highly politicized image of them, while positive images are silenced.
They are rarely consulted when news about them are spread, and when they are, they feel misinterpreted and used by journalists. They also highlight the double standards in news coverage depending on the origin of migration, as we have recently seen in the reporting on Ukrainian refugees.
Between the lines
Keeping all these findings in mind,Eticas recommends:
- YouTube needs to further develop its recommendation system for better minority representation, such as migrants. The capability to independently audit the recommender systems of YouTube and other social networks is a high priority in addressing the issues.
- YouTube and other social platforms should facilitate researchers or research institutions in accessing necessary internal data in order to study the possible harm or risks that their recommender algorithms can bring.
- A collaborative effort by public institutions, experts and YouTube itself should better define the set of biases that should not be present in YouTube’s algorithm system, including those based on gender, race, ethnicity, and other factors.
- Engaging migrant communities in all of the mentioned processes is another suggested step, as our study showed the concerned sentiments of the migrants themselves about their representation or absence in social media.