YouTube, breeding ground for Korea's far right

Image of a young man watching a YouTube channel that uses derogatory terms to refer to Korean women. A loose network of young, mostly male YouTubers, host a vibrant community for Korea's new far right, feeding right-wing views to hundreds of thousands of subscribers. / Gettyimagesbank

By Lee Suh-yoon

One was a young jobseeker. Another, an instructor at a college prep academy. There was also one who claimed to have run a successful online fashion mall business in women's clothing.

All three are now part of a loose network of dozens of young, mostly male YouTubers who play hosts at YouTube's most vibrant community ― the far right. Their channels feed right-wing news commentary and worldviews to hundreds of thousands of viewers on a daily basis.

These young YouTubers differ from the traditional far-right conservatives known for mobilizing seniors for raucous rallies supporting now-jailed former President Park Geun-hye. The topics are more varied ― often linked to a trending news event ― and videos neither start with typical blatant proclamations of one's political ideology nor endorse right-wing politicians blindly. They refer to themselves as "freedom-loving youth" on the official channel description.

The emphasis is heavy on "objective logic" as their main medium of interpretation, leading to long explanatory monologues spiked with deliberate disinformation and misleading analogies. Many capitalize on the anti-feminist backlash to attract young male viewers, accusing feminists of falsely "making things confrontational between men and women" in exasperated, self-righteous tones.

Before YouTube took off, these young right-wing men kept to themselves on their own websites, the most famous of them being "Ilbe." Such community sites are waning now. Teenagers, especially, base most of their online activities on social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.

When these far-right communities arrive at YouTube, a more public platform that provides popular content uploaders with a stable source of income, the problems are amplified.

"YouTube is open to anyone, and if you watch one, you are automatically exposed to more and more of such videos via the YouTube algorithm. It's easy to come across them because these YouTubers aggressively link every trending news topic with their content in real time," Kim Aeonkyung, secretary general at Citizens' Coalition for Democratic Media (CCDM), told The Korea Times.

"As a tool for spreading hate speech and misogyny, YouTube is a much more potent tool than Ilbe."

Far-right YouTubers hold a press conference in Seoul, Nov. 8, to protest Google's recent ad-stripping penalties in Korea for YouTube channels that were deemed to contain hate speech. /Yonhap

The problem is well-exemplified by a channel run by a YouTuber called Lee Seob.

Lee has two different playlists on his channel ― one for politics and the other for dating tips. The latter content ― including all kinds of anti-feminism explanations ― attracts young male students who thank him for his advice on picking up women and "well-said" arguments against feminism. Some videos are even "camouflaged" via the title, thumbnail or opening clip to trap unsuspecting viewers. A video called "Why are the rich so rotten?" with a photo of Korean Air "nut rage" heiress Cho Hyun-ah is actually Lee arguing against what he calls "a common misconception" that the poor masses have better hearts and higher moral ground than the rich and successful elites.

"It's more difficult to run or work at a restaurant in a poor neighborhood due to rude customers," Lee claims, citing his own part-time experience. "Rich people, on the other hand, are less likely to be rude customers."

One follower replied to the video saying, "You're so right. Poor people are often more selfish. But some Koreans treat those who worked hard to become rich as criminals, especially the left-leaning persons."

The logical roller coasters in Lee's videos eventually arrive at conspiracy theories against President Moon Jae-in and central tenets of conservative neoliberal ideologies.

In another video titled "Why divorce rates are high in Korea?" Lee concludes the reason is because "no one knows how to be thankful for their given situation anymore." The video has 12,000 likes. Similarly, other videos also arrive at the conclusion inequality is inevitable (so be content with your socioeconomic position), and everyone deserves only what they can win with talent and hard work in a free competition, regardless of unlevel playing fields.

To better monitor ultra-right content and hate speech against women and minorities, YouTube needs to be more transparent about its penalty standards, according to Kim.

"We don't know if the recent ad-stripping penalties for some channels are based on hate speech occurrences, viewer reports or defamation charges," Kim said. "The Super Chat earnings should also be blocked for channels stripped of their ads for hate speech violations."