The MEMRI DTTM monitors social media platforms, including YouTube and other video-based platforms, for extremist content and threats of violence in real time. The DTTM has a global reach and covers extremist content in over a dozen languages and tracks groups and individuals in all six inhabited continents. Languages covered by the DTTM include English, French, Russian, German, Irish, Spanish, Portuguese, Hungarian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Dutch, Danish, Bulgarian, Greek, Italian, Swedish, Norwegian, and Finnish.
Canadian extremists have proliferated on YouTube amid a history of lax enforcement of YouTube policies on hate speech. This occurs despite YouTube's stated goal to "protect users from extremist content."
YouTube's commitment to "protect users from extremist content."
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Many Canadian extremists including overt neo-Nazis and white supremacists in addition to anti-government extremists and accelerationists maintain active YouTube accounts with hundreds or thousands of followers. Some Canadian anti-government extremists boast tens of thousands of followers.
An antigovernment extremist YouTube channel has over 53,000 subscribers.
Dozens of neo-Nazi and white supremacist accounts promote violence and incite hatred against others in YouTube-hosted videos. Furthermore, accelerationists and anti-government extremists regularly promote violent revolution and civil war in Canada in videos uploaded to YouTube.
Canadian accelerationists regularly host livestreams on YouTube.
The following report reviews a sampling of extremist Canadian YouTube channels categorized as neo-Nazis, white supremacists, anti-government extremists, and accelerationists.
Canadian Neo-Nazis Disseminate Messaging On YouTube
A Quebecois neo-Nazi group maintains an active YouTube channel with videos of the group's activism in Quebec and Ontario provinces.
Likewise, a neo-Nazi biker gang is active channel on YouTube, with multiple accounts posting videos of the group's activism.
Canadian White Supremacists Showcase Activism, Promote Livestreams
A prominent white supremacist movement, with links to the U.S., maintains an active YouTube channel. The channel posts clips showing content from individuals who are banned on YouTube in addition to the groups' activism, including the participation of prominent members in the 2022 Freedom Convoy.
Additionally, the Canadian branch of a global white supremacist movement maintains a YouTube account.
A Quebecois white supremacist party posts videos from the group's activism and promoting conspiracy theories and antisemitic messaging on its YouTube channel.
Notably, a white supremacist podcast uploads full-length episodes of its content, co-hosted by a neo-Nazi individual and a white supremacist.
Extreme Anti-government Content Proliferates Thanks To YouTube's Algorithms
An anti-government channel is highly active on YouTube, with over 50,000 subscribers and biweekly livestreams. The channel's content is designed to radicalize individuals with non-extreme views into anti-government action.
An antisemite and prominent QAnon adherent maintains an active YouTube channel from which he disseminates extreme antigovernment content.
Canadian sovereign citizen adherents are also active on YouTube.
An anti-government organization also maintains an active YouTube page with nearly 3,000 subscribers. The organization publishes anti-government content accusing the government of genocide and calling for the undemocratic removal of elected officials and the installation of unelected bureaucrats into Canadian governments.
Canadian Accelerationists Abound On YouTube
The leader of a prominent accelerationist movement has over 3,000 subscribers on his YouTube account, from which he publishes livestreams on a regular basis.
Adherents of his movement are also active on YouTube, with many amassing thousands of followers.
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