The Youtube Rabbit Hole Game

Here’s a new game we can all play. The rules are simple:

1. Log out from YouTube and clear your cookies, so you’re viewing the site as some anonymous person it knows nothing about.

2. Go to the front page, and pick a totally innocuous video from its recommendations.

3. Clicking only on recommended videos in the sidebar on the right, see how quickly you can get steered to either white nationalism, or mad conspiracy theories.

4. Post your path for others to marvel at.

Here are three rounds I just played.

Round 1

1. Keanu Reeves Shows Us His Most Prized Motorcycles. Keanu’s reportedly a nice guy, he collects motorbikes, what could be more wholesome than that?

2. The Biggest Scandals To Ever Hit The History Channel. It’s the History Channel, so it must be reasonable, right?

3. Tucker Carlson: Beto’s campaign is dead. From history straight to white nationalists’ favorite media figure, for no readily apparent reason. And from there it’s all downhill:

4. Jordan Peterson: The Left’s new public enemy No. 1

5. Ben Shapiro Leaves Liberal Professor SPEECHLESS In An Epic Debate

Round 2

Let’s try again… Start with a video about a wholesome manufactured family TV pop band.

1. What No One Ever Told You About The Monkees.

2. Respected Musicians Who Were Actually Terrible People

3. 33 RARE HISTORICAL PHOTOS WILL STEAL YOU BREATH AWAY

4. 5 Mysterious Travelers from Other Dimensions

5. Are Underwater Aliens Secretly Abducting People?

Round 3

1. Which Drywall Anchor is Best? Let’s find out!

2. Abandoned boat in Gulf of Mexico someone found.

3. German WWI submarine found with 23 bodies inside. Uh, World War I submarine? Really?

4. Proof LBJ Ducked during the JFK assassination.

So basically, it looks like you’re only ever a handful of clicks from either white nationalism or some mad conspiracy theory. Google must be so proud.