BreadTube

Lindsay Ellis (left) and ContraPoints (right), early BreadTubers

The term BreadTube derives from Peter Kropotkin's The Conquest of Bread,^[7][8][9] a book explaining how to achieve anarchist communism and how an anarchist-communism society would function. Many BreadTube channels started in an effort to combat anti-social justice warrior and alt-right content that gained traction in the mid-2010s.^[10][11] By 2018, these individual channels had formed an interconnected community.^[11] Two prominent early BreadTubers were Lindsay Ellis, who left Channel Awesome in 2015 to start her own channel in response to the Gamergate controversy, and Natalie Wynn, who started her channel, ContraPoints, in 2016 in response to the alt-right's online dominance at the time.^[8] In an April 2021 interview, Wynn said, "The alt-right, the manosphere, incels, even the so-called SJW Internet and LeftTube all have a genetic ancestor in New Atheism."^[12]

BreadTube videos are often noted for their high production values and theatrical elements, running longer than many other YouTube videos.^[13][14] Many of them respond to right-wing talking points.^[4] Some sources indicate that right-wing and cyberlibertarian creators frequently take antagonistic stances toward political opponents, while many BreadTubers focus on analyzing and interpreting opposing arguments, sometimes incorporating elements of subversion, humor, or, in the words of Wynn, "seduction".^[4][15] Many BreadTubers aim to reach audiences beyond those who already hold left-wing viewpoints rather than merely "preach to the choir".^[4] Their videos often offer no definitive conclusions; instead, viewers are encouraged to interpret the presented material themselves.^[4] Because many BreadTube channels reference left-wing and socialist texts, some viewers encounter these ideas for the first time that way.^[5] According to Kelley Cotter, infighting is common in the BreadTube community. Cotter attributes that to "the community hosting a spectrum of beliefs, ranging from social democratic to Maoist".^[6]

Hbomberguy (left) and Abigail Thorn (right), commonly described as BreadTubers

The vast majority of BreadTube content is in English, and most BreadTubers are American or British.^[2] The term is informal and often disputed, as there are no agreed-upon criteria for inclusion. According to The New Republic, in 2019, the five people most commonly mentioned as examples were the aforementioned Natalie Wynn and Lindsay Ellis, along with Harry Brewis (Hbomberguy), Abigail Thorn (Philosophy Tube), and Shaun, while Kat Blaque and Anita Sarkeesian are cited as significant influences;^[3][8] Ian Danskin (aka Innuendo Studios),^[14] Hasan Piker,^[3][16] Vaush,^[16] and Destiny^[16][17] have also been said to be BreadTubers. However, some of these people, including Ellis,^[18] Shaun,^[19] and Wynn,^[20] have rejected the label.

Amid the 2018 presidential elections in Brazil, left channels became popular in the country.^[21] Among them are Pirulla, Clayson Felizola, Felipe Neto, Henry Bugalho, Sabrina Fernandes (Teze Onze), Carlito Neto (O Historiador), Cauê Moura, PC Siqueira, Samuel Borelli, Galãs Feios, Meteoro Brasil, Saia da Matrix, Tiago Santineli, Eduardo Moreira (Instituto Conhecimento Liberta), Plantão Brasil, Tiago Pavinatto,^[22] Jones Manoel, Laura Sabino, Humberto Matos,^[23] Dimitra Vulcana (Doutora Drag), John Mateus, Lucas Machado, Thiago Torres (Chavoso da USP), Roju Soares, Rebecca Gaia, Zamiliano Frossard (Revolushow),^[24] Inteligência Ltda.,^[25] Senhorita Bira,^[26] Thiago Guimarães (Ora Thiago),^[27] Rita von Hunty,^[28] Soberana TV,^[29] and Orientação Marxista (do Gustavo Machado). Some members of Soberana TV are João Carvalho and Ian Neves.^[25][21]

According to The Conversation, as of 2021, BreadTube content creators "receive tens of millions of views a month and have been increasingly referenced in media and academia as a case study in deradicalisation."^[10] According to The Independent, BreadTube "commentators have been trying, quite successfully, to intervene in the right-wing recruitment narrative – lifting viewers out of the rabbit-hole, or, at least, shifting them over to a new one."^[16] Kevin Roose wrote in The New York Times that BreadTube creators employ a method he referred to as a kind of "algorithmic hijacking":^[17] they focus on the same topics content creators with right-wing politics discuss to get their videos recommended to the same people consuming right-wing or far-right videos,^[17] thereby exposing a wider audience to their perspectives.^[4]

• Alt-right pipeline