BreadTube
{{Short description|Group of left-wing YouTubers}}
{{for|the bakeware|bread tube}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2022}}
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.{{cite web |last=Williams |first=Wil |date=June 1, 2021 |title=The video essays that spawned an entire YouTube genre |url=https://www.polygon.com/22417320/best-video-essays-youtube-history |accessdate=August 11, 2021 |work=Polygon |archive-date=August 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811131717/https://www.polygon.com/22417320/best-video-essays-youtube-history |url-status=live }}{{Cite web|last=Somos|first=Christy|date=October 25, 2019|title=Dismantling the 'Alt-Right Playbook': YouTuber explains how online radicalization works|url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/dismantling-the-alt-right-playbook-youtuber-explains-how-online-radicalization-works-1.4655174|access-date=July 3, 2020|website=CTVNews|language=en|archive-date=February 15, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215011000/https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/dismantling-the-alt-right-playbook-youtuber-explains-how-online-radicalization-works-1.4655174|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|last=Alexander|first=Julia|date=January 31, 2020|title=Carlos Maza is back on YouTube and ready to fight|url=https://www.theverge.com/tech/2020/1/31/21112724/carlos-maza-steven-crowder-vox-youtube-harassment-policies-breadtube|access-date=July 3, 2020|website=The Verge|language=en|archive-date=July 31, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200731142040/https://www.theverge.com/tech/2020/1/31/21112724/carlos-maza-steven-crowder-vox-youtube-harassment-policies-breadtube|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|date=January 13, 2020|title=Youtube: Auf der anderen Seite die linken Influencer|url=https://blog.zeit.de/teilchen/2020/01/13/youtube-influencer-linke-social-media/|access-date=July 3, 2020|website=Die Zeit|language=de-DE|archive-date=July 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703235442/https://blog.zeit.de/teilchen/2020/01/13/youtube-influencer-linke-social-media/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|last=Citarella|first=Joshua|date=September 12, 2020|title=Marxist memes for TikTok teens: can the internet radicalize teenagers for the left?|url=http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/12/marxist-memes-tiktok-teens-radical-left|url-status=live|access-date=August 8, 2021|website=The Guardian|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200912105738/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/12/marxist-memes-tiktok-teens-radical-left |archive-date=September 12, 2020 }}{{Cite journal |last=Cotter |first=Kelley |date=2022-03-18 |title=Practical knowledge of algorithms: The case of BreadTube |journal=New Media & Society |volume=26 |issue=4 |language=en |pages=2131–2150 |doi=10.1177/14614448221081802 |s2cid=247560346 |issn=1461-4448|doi-access=free }} BreadTube creators generally post videos on YouTube that are discussed on other online platforms, such as Reddit.{{Cite journal|last1=Kuznetsov|first1=Dmitry|last2=Ismangil|first2=Milan|date=January 13, 2020|title=YouTube as Praxis? On BreadTube and the Digital Propagation of Socialist Thought|url=https://www.triple-c.at/index.php/tripleC/article/view/1128|journal=TripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique|language=en-US|volume=18|issue=1|pages=204–218|doi=10.31269/triplec.v18i1.1128|issn=1726-670X|doi-access=free|access-date=July 3, 2020|archive-date=July 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703232456/https://www.triple-c.at/index.php/tripleC/article/view/1128|url-status=live}}
The New York Times author Kevin Roose wrote that BreadTube creators employ a method he calls "algorithmic hijacking".{{Cite news|last=Roose|first=Kevin|date=June 8, 2019|title=The Making of a YouTube Radical (Published 2019)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/08/technology/youtube-radical.html|url-status=live|access-date=June 2, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210522212633/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/08/technology/youtube-radical.html|archive-date=May 22, 2021|issn=0362-4331}} 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, thereby exposing a wider audience to their perspectives.
Many BreadTube content creators are crowdfunded, and their channels often serve as introductions to left-wing politics for young viewers.{{Cite book|last=Fuchs|first=Christian|url=|title=Social Media: A Critical Introduction|publisher=SAGE Publications|year=2021|isbn=978-1-5297-5274-8|edition=3rd|pages=199–200}}
BreadTube creators align with collectivist modes of governance, while opposing the alt-right and far-right. 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".
Origin
{{Image frame|width=296|content=x160px x160px|caption=Lindsay Ellis (left) and Natalie Wynn (right), early BreadTubers}}
The term BreadTube derives from Peter Kropotkin's The Conquest of Bread,{{Cite news|title=A Thorn in YouTube's Side Digs In Even Deeper|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/12/technology/carlos-maza-youtube-vox.html|access-date=July 3, 2020|website=The New York Times|date=February 12, 2020|language=en-US|archive-date=February 12, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200212171333/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/12/technology/carlos-maza-youtube-vox.html|url-status=live|last1=Roose|first1=Kevin}}{{Cite magazine|last=Amin|first=Shaan|date=July 2, 2019|title=Can the Left Win YouTube?|magazine=The New Republic|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/154399/can-left-win-youtube|access-date=July 3, 2020|issn=0028-6583|archive-date=July 4, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200704131345/https://newrepublic.com/article/154399/can-left-win-youtube|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|date=April 30, 2020|title=Three: Mirror Image|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/podcasts/rabbit-hole-internet-youtube-virus.html|access-date=July 3, 2020|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=July 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703195727/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/podcasts/rabbit-hole-internet-youtube-virus.html|url-status=live}} 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.{{Cite web|last=Lee|first=Alexander Mitchell|date=March 8, 2021|title=Meet BreadTube, the YouTube activists trying to beat the far-right at their own game|url=http://theconversation.com/meet-breadtube-the-youtube-activists-trying-to-beat-the-far-right-at-their-own-game-156125|url-status=live|access-date=May 27, 2021|website=The Conversation|language=en|archive-date=June 30, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210630232257/https://theconversation.com/meet-breadtube-the-youtube-activists-trying-to-beat-the-far-right-at-their-own-game-156125}}{{Cite journal|last1=Mniestri|first1=Aikaterini|last2=Gekker|first2=Alex|title=Temporal Frames for Platform Publics: The Platformization of Breadtube|date=October 5, 2020|url=https://journals.uic.edu/ojs/index.php/spir/article/view/11281|journal=AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research|language=en|doi=10.5210/spir.v2020i0.11281|s2cid=225166989|issn=2162-3317|doi-access=free|access-date=November 19, 2021|archive-date=November 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211119133105/https://journals.uic.edu/ojs/index.php/spir/article/view/11281|url-status=live}} By 2018, these individual channels had formed an interconnected community. 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. 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."{{Cite web|last=Maughan|first=Philip|date=April 14, 2021|title=The World According to ContraPoints|url=https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/contrapoints-natalie-wynn-interview/|access-date=August 3, 2021|website=Highsnobiety|language=en|archive-date=April 29, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220429125954/https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/contrapoints-natalie-wynn-interview/|url-status=live}}
Format
BreadTube videos are often noted for their high production values and theatrical elements, running longer than many other YouTube videos. A number of these videos respond to right-wing talking points. 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".{{Cite web|last=Cross|first=Katherine|date=August 24, 2018|title=The Oscar Wilde of YouTube fights the alt-right with decadence and seduction|url=https://www.theverge.com/tech/2018/8/24/17689090/contrapoints-youtube-natalie-wynn|access-date=August 18, 2021|website=The Verge|language=en|archive-date=February 11, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230211220210/https://www.theverge.com/tech/2018/8/24/17689090/contrapoints-youtube-natalie-wynn|url-status=live}} Many BreadTubers aim to reach audiences beyond those who already hold left-wing viewpoints rather than solely "preaching to the choir". Their videos often do not offer a definitive conclusion; instead, viewers are encouraged to draw their own interpretations from the material presented. 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.
Channels
{{Image frame|width=312|content=x160px x160px|caption=Harry Brewis (top) and Abigail Thorn (bottom), commonly described as BreadTubers}}
The vast majority of BreadTube content is in English, and most BreadTubers are American or British.{{Cite web |last=Koenigsdorff |first=Simon |date=January 13, 2020 |title=Youtube: Auf der anderen Seite die linken Influencer |url=https://blog.zeit.de/teilchen/2020/01/13/youtube-influencer-linke-social-media/ |access-date=September 20, 2021 |website=Teilchen |language=de-DE |archive-date=July 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703235442/https://blog.zeit.de/teilchen/2020/01/13/youtube-influencer-linke-social-media/ |url-status=live }} 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; Ian Danskin (aka Innuendo Studios), Hasan Piker,{{Cite web|last=Ellingham|first=Miles|date=January 17, 2021|title=The rise of BreadTube: The battle for the soul of the internet|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/long-reads/breadtube-gamergate-twitch-online-politics-streamers-b1765156.html|url-access=subscription|url-status=live|access-date=September 20, 2021|website=The Independent|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210117051617/https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/long-reads/breadtube-gamergate-twitch-online-politics-streamers-b1765156.html |archive-date=January 17, 2021 }} Vaush, and Destiny have also been described as part of BreadTube. However, several of these people, including Ellis,{{Cite tweet|number=1326207223077335041|user=thelindsayellis|title=Someone tell this person that breadtube isn't a thing.|author=Lindsay Ellis|author-link=Lindsay Ellis|date=November 10, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210424043657/https://twitter.com/thelindsayellis/status/1326207223077335041|archive-date=April 24, 2021|url-status=live}} Shaun,{{Cite tweet|number=1242617649193979905|user=shaun_vids|title=do not send me messages about 'breadtube' drama. or 'breadtube' generally. its a fake group with arbitrary, subjective membership|author=Shaun|author-link=Shaun (YouTuber)|date=March 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210311185227/https://twitter.com/shaun_vids/status/1242617649193979905|archive-date=March 11, 2021|url-status=live}} and Wynn{{Cite tweet|number=1364059709456711680|user=ContraPoints|title=I encourage my audience to drop the label 'BreadTube'.|author=Natalie Wynn|author-link=ContraPoints|date=February 23, 2021|archive-date=April 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210424042710/https://twitter.com/ContraPoints/status/1364059709456711680|url-status=live}} have rejected the label.
Reception
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." 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."
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. BreadTube content creator Kyle Kulinski argued that infighting within BreadTube has left the community "politically impotent and ineffectual."