BreadTube or LeftTube is a loose and informal group of online personalities who create video content, including video essays and livestreams, from socialist, social democratic, communist, anarchist, and other left-wing perspectives. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] BreadTube creators generally post videos on YouTube that are discussed on other online platforms, such as Reddit. [7]
The New York Times author Kevin Roose wrote that BreadTube creators employ a method he calls "algorithmic hijacking". [8] This method involves them choosing to focus on the same topics discussed by content creators with right-wing politics, as a means for enabling their videos to be recommended to the same audiences consuming right-wing or far-right videos, [8] thereby exposing a wider audience to their perspectives. [7]
Many BreadTube content creators are crowdfunded, and their channels often serve as introductions to left-wing politics for young viewers. [9]
BreadTube creators align with collectivist modes of governance, while opposing the alt-right and far-right. [6] Infighting is common within the BreadTube community, which has been attributed to "the community hosting a spectrum of beliefs, ranging from Social Democratic to Maoist". [6]
The term BreadTube derives from Peter Kropotkin's The Conquest of Bread , [10] [11] [12] a book explaining how to achieve anarcho-communism and how an anarcho-communist society would function.
The BreadTube phenomenon itself does not have a clear origin, although many BreadTube channels started in an effort to combat anti-social justice warrior and alt-right content that gained traction in the mid-2010s. [13] [14] By 2018, these individual channels had formed an interconnected community. [14] 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 online dominance of the alt-right at the time. [11] In an April 2021 interview, Wynn opined that "The alt-right, the manosphere, incels, even the so-called SJW Internet and LeftTube all have a genetic ancestor in New Atheism." [15]
BreadTube videos are often noted for their high production values and theatrical elements, running longer than many other YouTube videos. [1] [2] A number of these videos respond to right-wing talking points. [7] Some sources indicate that right-wing and cyberlibertarian creators frequently adopt antagonistic stances toward political opponents, while many BreadTubers focus on analyzing and interpreting opposing arguments, sometimes incorporating elements of subversion, humor, or "seduction". [7] [16] Many BreadTubers aim to reach audiences beyond those who already hold left-wing viewpoints rather than solely "preaching to the choir". [7] Their videos often do not offer a definitive conclusion; instead, viewers are encouraged to draw their own interpretations from the material presented. [7] Because BreadTube channels frequently reference left-wing and socialist texts in their discussions, some viewers encounter these ideas for the first time through such content. [9]
The vast majority of BreadTube content is in English, and most BreadTubers are American or British. [17] 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 Natalie Wynn (ContraPoints), Lindsay Ellis, Harry Brewis (Hbomberguy), Abigail Thorn (Philosophy Tube), and Shaun, while Kat Blaque and Anita Sarkeesian are cited as significant influences; [5] [11] Ian Danskin (aka Innuendo Studios), [2] Hasan Piker, [5] [18] Vaush, [18] and Destiny [18] [8] have also been described as part of BreadTube. However, several of these people, including Ellis, [19] Shaun, [20] and Wynn [21] have rejected the label.
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." [13] 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." [18]
Black BreadTube content creator Kat Blaque has criticized the lack of black content creators within BreadTube and argues that black content creators are marginalized within BreadTube. [6] BreadTube content creator Kyle Kulinski argued that infighting within BreadTube has left the community "politically impotent and ineffectual." [6]
The American online video sharing and social media platform YouTube has had social impact in many fields, with some individual videos of the site having directly shaped world events. It is the world's largest video hosting website and second most visited website according to both Alexa Internet and Similarweb, and used by 81% of U.S. adults.
Lindsay Ellis is an American science fiction author, video essayist, film critic, and YouTuber. Her debut novel, Axiom's End, published in July 2020, became a New York Times Best Seller.
Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, better known as PewDiePie, is a Swedish YouTuber known for his comedic videos. Kjellberg's popularity on YouTube and extensive media coverage have made him one of the most noted online personalities and content creators. He has been portrayed in media as a figurehead for YouTube, especially in the genre of gaming.
Carl Benjamin, also known by his online pseudonym Sargon of Akkad, is a British right-wing YouTuber and political commentator. A former member of the Eurosceptic UK Independence Party (UKIP), he was one of its unsuccessful candidates for the South West England constituency at the 2019 European Parliament election.
BitChute is an alt-tech video hosting service launched by Ray Vahey in January 2017. It describes itself as offering freedom of speech, while the service is known for hosting far-right individuals, conspiracy theorists, and hate speech. Some creators who use BitChute have been banned from YouTube; some others crosspost content to both platforms or post more extreme content only to BitChute. Before its deprecation, BitChute claimed to use peer-to-peer WebTorrent technology for video distribution, though this was disputed.
A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006, and subsequently appeared in the 2006 Time Person of the Year issue.
Natalie Wynn is an American left-wing YouTuber, political commentator, and cultural critic. She is best known for her YouTube channel, ContraPoints, where she creates video essays exploring a wide range of topics such as politics, gender, ethics, race, and philosophy.
Steven Kenneth Bonnell II, known online as Destiny, is an American live streamer and political commentator. He was among the first people to stream video games online full-time. Since 2016, he has streamed political debates with other online personalities, in which he advocates for liberal and social democratic politics.
Harry Brewis, better known as Hbomberguy, is a British YouTuber and Twitch streamer. Brewis produces video essays on a variety of topics such as film, television, and video games, often combining them with arguments from left-wing political and economic positions. He has created videos aimed at debunking conspiracy theories and responding to right-wing and antifeminist arguments.
Abigail Thorn is an English YouTuber, actress, and playwright.
YouTube may suspend accounts, temporarily or permanently, from their social networking service. Suspensions of high-profile individuals from YouTube are unusual and when they occur, often attract attention in the media.
Jean-François Gariépy is a Canadian white supremacist, former neuroscience researcher, and alt-right political commentator. Gariépy hosted the YouTube channel The Public Space before launching his current channel JFG Tonight where he calls for the creation of a white ethnostate, promotes antisemitic messages, and advocates for the genetic superiority of white people. The Anti-Defamation League lists The Public Space among "White Supremacist Channels". Gariépy has been described as a "standard bearer of the alt-right."
Ian Danskin is an American YouTuber, whose YouTube channel Innuendo Studios discusses politics from a left-wing perspective. He is primarily known for "The Alt-Right Playbook" series of videos. The channel has been described as part of "BreadTube", an informal group of left-wing YouTube channels.
David Freiheit, is a Canadian lawyer, former political candidate for the People's Party of Canada and YouTuber under the pseudonym Viva Frei.
Calvin Lee Vail, known online as LeafyIsHere or simply Leafy, is an American former Internet celebrity, best known for his YouTube channel which focused on reaction content. Vail first gained popularity on the site for his commentary on Internet videos and culture. Prior, he posted Let's Play content.
William Jonathan Lenney, better known as WillNE, is an English YouTuber and internet personality based in Newcastle. Lenney's content is noted for both his videos focusing around internet culture and his practical jokes, such as getting a variety of YouTubers to collaboratively sing the song "All Star" without their knowledge, and fooling several media organisations into thinking he was a contestant on I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. Lenney's style of content was described by Vice Media in 2018 as designed for "teenagers hyper-literate on internet culture." In January 2024, Lenney became a co-owner of Quadrant Esports, a content creation and apparel brand founded by Lando Norris.
Clay, known online as Dream, is an American YouTuber, Twitch streamer, speedrunner, and singer primarily known for creating Minecraft content.
Shaun is a British YouTuber. Video essays by Shaun have covered popular culture and politics, specifically to critique neoliberalism, anti-feminism, and the alt-right.
Ian Anthony Kochinski, better known as Vaush, is an American left-wing YouTuber and former Twitch streamer. Kochinski started his online career as a member of streamer Destiny's community, before creating his Twitch channel and YouTube account in 2019. His content consists of commentary on various news and media topics, discussions of men's fashion, video games and urbanist policies. Previously, debates and discussions with various political figures were a larger part of his channel. Noted for his confrontational style, use of memes, and mimicry from right-wing YouTubers, he was regarded as part of the BreadTube community.
The alt-right pipeline is a proposed conceptual model regarding internet radicalization toward the alt-right movement. It describes a phenomenon in which consuming provocative right-wing political content, such as antifeminist or anti-SJW ideas, gradually increases exposure to the alt-right or similar far-right politics. It posits that this interaction takes place due to the interconnected nature of political commentators and online communities, allowing members of one audience or community to discover more extreme groups. This process is most commonly associated with and has been documented on the video platform YouTube, and is largely faceted by the method in which algorithms on various social media platforms function through the process recommending content that is similar to what users engage with, but can quickly lead users down rabbit-holes. The effects of YouTube's algorithmic bias in radicalizing users has been replicated by one study, although two other studies found little or no evidence of a radicalization process.