(calm relaxing music)
- Hey, guys, I'm Keith Habersberger,
and I know you were expecting me
to binge some garbage food right now,
but I just wanna celebrate the new year.
Welcome to 2021! (party poppers popping)
♪ Should old acquaintance be forgot ♪
♪ And never brought to mind ♪
♪ We'll take a cup of kindness yet ♪
♪ For auld lang syne ♪
- Woo! We did it, yeah!
The (beep) can that was 2020 is finally over, it's 2021!
We have solved the pandemic.
We have solved climate change,
and we even got everyone to admit
that there really is not gonna be a good solution
for straws ever.
Paper, plastic, metal, they're all bad.
(laughs) They're all bad.
We did it, right?
It's just, we're filming in December,
so I actually don't know if we did it or not.
Is that not what happened?
We didn't fix it, it's the same?
We're just using Twizzlers as straws now?
Okay, anyway, (upbeat music)
now that we've definitely turned the corner,
let's take a moment to look back
at the absolute nightmare that was 2020.
This was definitely one of the worst years on record
to top off one of the worst half decades
and that is saying something.
In 2019, the Amazon Rainforest burned
while the US abandoned Syrian Kurds.
In 2018, we triggered a trade war
and left the Iran nuclear deal.
And in 2017, this sea turtle died
after eating 915 coins, straws and coins.
Well, why don't we just make Shredder
the head of the Save the Ocean Society?
Oh, wait, we already have.
And just like the rest of the world,
it was a difficult year for YouTube.
They even canceled YouTube Rewind,
a thing we all love to hate. (Will laughs)
So while some YouTubers are still having irresponsible
and dangerous gatherings during a pandemic
to uphold the tradition of dare me, bro.
Dare me, dare me, I'll do it, I swear!
We canceled the tradition that's done remotely
and won't get anyone sick.
Honestly, if you're an influencer,
you have absolutely no excuse for ignoring
social distancing this holiday season.
It's not like you're my Great-Aunt Carol
who doesn't understand that you don't need to type
"Dear Mr. Google", every time you do a web search.
Our literal job is to communicate remotely
with millions of strangers.
We can absolutely do that with our friends and family
for the holidays while still enjoying some soggy bread
out of the asshole of Benjamin Franklin's favorite bird.
No, seriously, it was his favorite bird. (laughs)
And he was right, turkeys are the most American
of the birds, they're not very pretty.
They can't fly 'cause they're too fat.
And if they know the president,
they can get pardoned for their involvement in Turkey.
Several scandals and feuds were in the news this year
from YouTube stars (suspenseful music)
like Shane Dawson, Jake Paul, Jeffrey Star, James Charles,
Tati Westbrook, and Tinky Winky of the "Teletubbies".
Ooh la la.
And it wasn't just individual YouTubers.
Amid complaints of racial insensitivity, pay disparity,
and a toxic work culture, 10 of the 13 members
of "Bon Appetit's" Test Kitchen quit
the magazines popular video series.
So why does this keep happening
and why is it such a defining part of the YouTube culture?
Well, let's start at the beginning.
(upbeat spirited music)
(calm upbeat music) So YouTube first officially
launched in February 2005,
as a dating website (lips smacking)
but it generated little interest.
So much so that the founders were so desperate for content,
they started taking out ads
offering to pay women $20 to upload videos,
which is actually a better monetization rate
than most first-time uploaders get today.
But by paying women (bell dings)
to put up videos and lore men sounds like something
that like RedTube would do. (crowd clapping)
Which shouldn't be confused with YouTube Red
where you pay to avoid ads of women on dating sites.
And also, YouTube Red was rebranded as YouTube Premium
which is basically them making like TV quality content
exclusive to YouTube.
Which is different from YouTube TV
which is just very mediocre cable.
Which, by the way, if you wanna know,
you can't use your in-laws passwords to log into it
because it requires a monthly login
from the owners IP address, so (beep) me,
I guess I will watch "The Bachelor" the day later.
Content was so scarce in the first few days,
the developers began posting their own videos
just to fill the space.
Here's YouTube Co-founder Jawed Karim
in the first ever YouTube video.
- All right, so here we are in front of the elephants,
the cool thing about these guys
is that they have really, really, really long trunks.
- Okay, so this video is part of YouTube Lore
and it wasn't until this week that I realized
that guy is one of the original YouTube founders.
That's insane.
That's like if the first Yelp review was by John T. Yelp
and it said, "Five stars for Yelp,
I just can't Yelp myself!"
After monetization, the most successful channel creators
did whatever generated views,
something that's still very much a part of our DNA.
And hey, I do it too.
Do you think we wanna put our faces on very thumbnail?
We do it 'cause that's what gets the clicks,
it's your fault, it's a strategy
as old as Edvard Munch's The Scream.
That painting has over 10 million clips.
I don't wanna it either.
You're the one who made me do this,
I'm just the monster, but you're Dr. Frankenstein.
You hear me, you're the Frankenstein!
Anyway, make sure to smash that like button
and ring that bell.
Click to subscribe. (air whooshes)
(calm upbeat music) 15 years
and hundreds of billions of views later,
we ended up where we are now.
This platform has had immense global impact
and changed how we interact with the world.
Before YouTube, you had to buy a pirated DVD
of the movie you wanted to see and it was someone filming it
in a theater with a camcorder.
But now, you just click on a two hour video
that turns out to be a very long still
of the movie that you wanted to watch
with some confusing audio underneath.
And honestly, I just thought that Mary Poppins
was trying to be meta,
but can we talk about Mary Bobbins for a second?
Nobody wanted a sequel Mary, (dramatic music)
we don't wanna learn new songs about chores.
Why can't you just do what ABBA does
and let us sing the same songs over
and over and over again? ("Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!")
You're right, it is meant to be a trilogy.
I'm thrilled, I'm buckled in, let's take off together.
'Cause, you know, okay, let's get back to it.
So as viewership on YouTube grew,
people started regularly vlogging
and sharing their lives online,
and it became the epitome of reality TV.
And the thing that makes reality TV so watchable
are the messy fights and the drama.
(ominous music)
- I truly cannot believe that I'm about to bring up
what I'm going to bring up but.
Grayson is going on camera shortly to finally tell the world
how you tried to molest him and touch him in his sleep,
and made him uncomfortable for months.
You sick mother (beep).
I knew Jeffrey was lying because the twins
were two of the first people to call me
and make sure that I was okay.
- I've lost over a year of my life
terrified of social media.
I did not make my video because of vitamins.
I made it as a result of all of the poisonous lies
that were fed to me by Shane Dawson and Jeffrey Star.
- I know there's a lot of people waiting for me
to address the situation.
Now, I didn't try to take anyone down,
I'm not as villain in a movie.
- No, of course, people make mistakes.
And some YouTubers and organizations
have taken genuine responsibility for their actions,
but for others, the constant controversy
isn't an unintended misstep, but the foundation
on which they base their whole careers.
The built in reward system of this whole setup
encourages us to amplify the shock value of content.
It's what we all do to some extent
in order to make our livings,
and stay relevant and interesting.
I myself have worn a giant diaper in public,
been electrocuted, (upbeat lively music)
stranded in shark-infested waters,
had my prostate checked on camera,
and we even recreated the campaigns
of some of these controversial beauty YouTubers.
But to be clear, I was only aroused
doing one of those things. - It is a good baby,
Keith's a good baby.
- YouTube has said its recommendations drive over 70%
of the more than 1 billion hours
people spend watching videos each day, and making it
one of the world's most influential algorithms.
And that much power and influence
has some very real world consequences.
(air whooshes) - But YouTube doesn't just
provide a platform, (gentle suspenseful music)
it's artificial intelligence amplifies sensational content,
sometimes with terrible consequences.
- Some of these unsubstantiated claims
that were once left on the periphery of politics
are now gaining traction and becoming mainstream beliefs.
- Turns out, as YouTube's algorithms try to keep you online,
they do so by nudging you (dramatic music)
from the mainstream content
to the fringes of wild conspiracy theories.
- There does seem to be a systematic
and significant migration of users
from these milder communities
to these more extreme channels.
(calm suspenseful music) - Have you ever noticed
that your searches on YouTube
often wind up suggesting provocative content,
videos that entice you to watch more and more?
This is what social media researchers
call the rabbit hole effect. (air whooshes)
- And I'm sure you've all experienced
what those researchers are describing.
It's honestly not that difficult to fall down
one of these YouTube rabbit holes
and end up a million miles from where you started.
For example, when I did a search of Kevin Bacon,
YouTube then suggested videos of teacup pigs
and then autoplayed Mr. T.
And after that Mr. E. Nygma who we all know (laughs)
is just the alter ego of the Riddler,
which led me to "Fiddler on the Roof",
and ultimately to some very anti-sematic videos
by Alex Jones which lead me to PewDiePie.
Now to be clear, conspiracy videos
and the constant controversy generated by some YouTubers
are not the same, but they do both benefit
from the same system.
Recently, YouTube has made efforts to correct the problem
and recommends conspiracy theories far less than before.
And it temporarily suspended OAN
from its platform for misinformation.
But according to a study from the University of California,
YouTube's progress has been uneven
and continues to advance certain kinds of fabrications.
So although they have merely eradicated
some of the most outlandish conspiracies
from the recommendations,
like September 11th was an inside job,
the earth is flat, and Zach has a normal sized penis.
They still redirect traffic to other false conspiracies,
like climate change is a hoax, aliens built the pyramids,
and I don't have a normal size penis.
What? Wait, do they think it's too big or too small?
The wrong shape? Oh, I guess you could.
The consequences of the spread of this misinformation
has been far reaching.
In Brazil, YouTube search and recommendation system
appears to have systematically diverted users
to the far-right, resulting in a wave
of extremist, right-wing YouTubers winning several seats,
including their current president, Jair Bolsonaro.
(air whooshes) - To test
for the rabbit hole phenomenon in Brazil,
researchers at Harvard conducted a computer automated study.
The results were disturbing. (ominous music)
Brazilians were disproportionately recommended videos
from the far-right, pro-Bolsonaro bloggers,
and conspiracy theorists.
(protesters shouting) - Members of the far-right
repeatedly told us that their political awakening
began with a video recommendation from YouTube.
(calm upbeat music) - And it's not just Brazil,
despite the FBI declaring fringe conspiracy theories
to be a domestic terror threat,
two QAnon supporters won house seats in the last election.
And that (laughs) is terrifying.
But what it demonstrates more than anything else
is the absolutely formidable power of this platform.
It influences how you think, what you believe,
and who you trust.
But only if you let it because YouTube's algorithm
is just that, it's a piece of software whose sole purpose
is to keep you watching,
and it will do whatever it takes for that to happen.
It's not encouraging creators (upbeat music)
specifically to make videos
about conspiracy theories or high drama,
it'll be happy with anything that keeps you online.
If human nature skewed toward rabbit ASMR videos
then that's mostly what we would see.
So, you know, when you go online,
don't just consume whatever it feeds you.
Think critically, ask questions,
and don't let yourself be manipulated
'cause there's an immense potential for good here too.
That same power that led you to believe
that the government laser beams
started the California Wildfires,
was the same power that enabled the ice bucket challenge
to raise $115 million for ALS
and increase its annual funding by 187%.
And in 2011, YouTube played an instrumental role
in the middle East protest that became the Arab Spring
by disseminating messages of freedom and democracy.
Through this site, protestors were able to upload videos
sharing their messages and political criticisms
which is another amazing aspect of this place.
I just spent an entire video criticizing YouTube on YouTube.
And during a time when so many people are out of a job,
I am incredibly grateful to do what I love
through a company that I built with my three best friends.
I mean, this creative economy has opened up
a world of opportunity for so many to earn an income,
both in front of and behind the camera.
And create a space for us to want to,
you know, (laughs) create.
And don't get me wrong,
YouTube should absolutely address these issues
by fixing the manipulative aspects of their software.
But don't forget that you're not powerless
in this situation.
I know that this last year has been really bad
and it's worn us all down,
and so many things seem absolutely insane
and out of our control, but you do have a choice.
Jawed Karim and others may have been the ones
to originally create this platform, but it's us,
creators and the millions of people who are watching,
that made it what it is.
This is our narrative, and for us, this coming year,
we can decide whether we let ourselves
continue to be coerced or manipulated,
or whether we take hold of our choices
and make them consciously.
- And that's pretty much
all there is to say. - Rabbit ASMR
honestly sounds so relaxing and like the balm we all need
this holiday season. - It's real and it's amazing.
(upbeat rock music)
(rabbit munching) - Start the year right.