PL 2630 on YouTube
Algorithm of visibility and invisibility in videos about regulation of big techs in Brazil
Abstract
Bill 2630/2020, which would establish the Brazilian Internet Freedom, Responsibility and Transparency Law and is known as the "Fake News Bill", faced open opposition from companies such as Google, Meta, Amazon, Twitter and TikTok, as well as parliamentarians and influencers from the conservative camp, who nicknamed the proposal the "Censorship Bill". This article uses as material the daily record of video rankings by YouTube's search ranking algorithm, obtained from the video platform's API through the YouTube Data Tools tool (Rieder, 2015), for the period between April 25, 2023, and February 6, 2024. The objective is to (i) identify the videos and channels favored by YouTube's search algorithm over time; (ii) identify possible changes in the patterns of results presented by the search algorithm in the top ten positions after Google and YouTube positioned themselves against the bill; (iii) analyze the correlation between favored videos and the political stance present in their descriptions. After collection, the study uses proprietary R code to process video metadata, analyze search results over time, and identify textual topics. The research identified 3,395 videos, from 1,395 different channels, offered to users seeking information about the bill, collected using the YouTube DataTools tool from the Digital Methods Initiative (University of Amsterdam).
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