Analysing the Dynamics of Information Disorder Spread on YouTube

Abstract

YouTube is a web-based video platform that enables users to publish, watch, distribute, and provide feedback on videos. It produces more than 500 hours of video content per minute and garners over two billion views monthly. Like other emerging media platforms, YouTube contains a substantial amount of erroneous and deceptive content. Posting deceptive content on YouTube has negative consequences. This study examines the factors that influence the audience's exposure to content containing misinformation and focuses on understanding how misinformation spreads in YouTube content. The Conceptual Framework of Information Disorder, developed by Laire Wardle, examines information disorder consumption, interpretation, and intention in YouTube videos. To gain a comprehensive understanding, this framework uses variables such as elements, categories, and stages of information disorder. Additionally, sentiment analysis examines the material's impact on the interpreter and the content's distribution by scrutinizing the comments on the content. The researcher used Laire Wardle Customers' Six Cognitive Biases to assess users' trustworthiness regarding the message or source, resulting in an overwhelming flood of disorganized data. The researcher selected five regional YouTube channels with over one million subscribers and used one of the most-watched videos as a sample. This study concludes that all of those selected videos actively disseminate misinformation or manipulate information for personal gain, resulting in an information disorder.