Against this background, the deletion of Jones’ channel can be understood as a surgical strike. While the two communities still exist, both have lost a valuable bridge to their content. Jones’ channel served as an entry way into the (far-)right and conspiracy bubble (also dubbed “the three degrees of Alex Jones” as YouTube recommended Jones’ channel on Fox News’ channel page) and from there it would either go into the (far-)right or the conspiracy community. And while Fox News filled the void Jones left behind, the question remains if this will hold. Trading the far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones for the establishment Fox News might seem like a good thing for the public sphere on YouTube at first and a step towards deradicalization, but many channels in the right-wing community are more in line with Jones than with Fox News. For them, Fox News may be just too tame and mainstream, a shadow of what Jones was. Since YouTube’s algorithms also take user behavior and topic overlap into account, it might very well be that Fox News’ spot at the top will be short-lived. If Fox News wanted to maintain its current position, it may start creating YouTube-only videos directed at its (far-)right audience. Jones’ removal is definitely a weakening of the (far-)right communities on YouTube. The question is for how long.

For YouTube, deleting Alex Jones’ channel was a braver move than it was for Facebook, Spotify or Apple: as the Facebook stock crash showed, social media platforms are usually judged by their shareholders for their growth and engagement and not for their civic concerns. Removing one of YouTube’s most notorious and divisive channel creators, i.e. one who would guarantee traffic and interactions, did thus not only put YouTube in the same spot as Facebook or Twitter, but also now begs the question if the social media giant is willing to police its content more consistently. In the battle between business and user interests, it seems like the user side won. This time.

The whole affair shows the power platforms like YouTube have. Although Jones’ removal from the platform will not prevent him or others who have been deleted from reaching their audiences, as most were prepared for such a move and have already switched to alternative platforms. But it will be difficult for them to still reach a similarly broad audience and keep their revenue stream. However, Jones’ core audience will most likely follow him wherever he goes.

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Jonas Kaiser (@jonaskaiser) is a DFG postdoctoral fellow and affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University and associate researcher at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet & Society.

Adrian Rauchfleisch (@OuzhouAdi) is an Assistant Professor at the Graduate Institute of Journalism at the National Taiwan University and the co-founder of the think-tank Zurich Institute of Public Affairs Research.