Bloomberg published a stunning investigation detailing exactly how a cadre of top male influencers helped swing the election for Trump. The outlet reviewed over 2,000 videos from nine prominent YouTubers, streamers and podcasters and analyzed two years of transcripts to see how the creators and their guests discussed politics.
As Iāve written before, Trumpās inauguration wasnāt just a political moment, it was the culmination of a decades long seismic shift in the media landscape (my book, Extremely Online, documents this shift). Traditional media gatekeepers have been replaced by YouTubers and podcasters, especially for young, predominantly male voters.
Bloombergās investigation into the content being published by big YouTubers reveals a pattern of pro-Trump messaging sandwiched between entertainment-focused content consisting of āfree-wheeling discussions of sports, masculinity, internet culture, gambling and pranks,ā making it more digestible for apolitical audiences.