Video summary
A recent quasi-experimental study involving 165 deplatforming events across 101 influencers provides significant new data on the effectiveness of content moderation interventions, challenging previous inconclusive inquiries that relied too heavily on overt engagement metrics like likes and posts rather than passive views. The research found that permanently or temporarily removing influential users from social media platforms systematically reduces online attention toward them by approximately 63% over a twelve-month period when measured via Google searches, with an additional reduction of about 43% observed on Wikipedia usage. This suggests that deplatforming is far more effective than previously speculated at diminishing the reach and influence of banned individuals, contradicting common assumptions often made regarding "streisand effects" where suppression might inadvertently increase interest in a subject. The discussion highlights specific cases to illustrate how public figures react differently to such bans, noting distinct personalities like Kanye West who seemingly do not care about his standing on platforms versus comedians like Dave Chappelle and Shane Dawson whose careers rely heavily on generating joy for their audience. The speaker argues that while one can hate a comedian's message or the person themselves, there is no logical reason why deplatforming should be necessary when individuals could simply choose to attend events they disagree with rather than shutting them down entirely. This approach of forced exclusion is criticized as being overly authoritarian and reminiscent of dictatorial tendencies seen in political movements that seek to defund police or impose strict rules on campus speech, creating an environment where private security guards are needed by activists who preach about community safety while living behind gated communities. The conversation extends into the concept of "luxury beliefs," defined as ideas held by upper-class groups that confer status upon them but incur significant costs for lower classes, with defunding police cited as a prime example alongside narratives regarding family structures and marriage advantages. The speaker points out the hypocrisy involved when certain demographics push policies like lowering test standards for Black students to help struggling schools, only to undermine those children's future prospects by failing to address systemic educational failures where many graduates leave high school unable to read at grade level or perform basic math. This disconnect between moral posturing and practical outcomes is presented as a form of overcompensation that benefits the elite while harming vulnerable populations who are not in a position to critique these narratives from their own lived experiences. The transcript also covers the controversial findings of Roland Fryer, a Harvard professor whose research indicated that police killings of Black individuals occur far less frequently than commonly believed and that law enforcement does not target Black people as much as assumed. Despite his rigorous methodology involving multiple years of study with different interns to verify results, Fryer faced intense backlash from within academic circles who feared the data would ruin their careers if published. The situation escalated when he released the findings anyway, only to receive death threats and require an armed guard for protection while shopping at a grocery store with his child, illustrating the irony that stating facts about reduced police violence against Black people now necessitates greater security from law enforcement or private guards than ever before. Ultimately, the episode uses these diverse examples—from statistical studies on influencer deplatforming to sociological critiques of class-based beliefs and academic censorship—to argue for a more nuanced understanding of social dynamics in America. The speaker emphasizes that while data-driven insights are valuable, they often clash with prevailing moral narratives enforced by institutions or political movements that prioritize optics over reality. Whether discussing the efficacy of banning controversial figures on Google versus Wikipedia or the dangers of pushing luxury beliefs that harm marginalized communities, the core message remains a call to acknowledge uncomfortable truths rather than engaging in performative activism that ultimately fails its intended beneficiaries while reinforcing authoritarian tendencies within society.
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I found a study that recently was done
uh deplatforming Norm violating
influences on social media reduces
overall online attention toward them
from politicians to podcast hosts online
platforms have systematically banned
deplatformed influential users for
breaking platform guidelines previous
inquiries into the effectiveness of this
intervention were inconclusive because
one they consider only a few
deplatforming events two they consider
only overt engagement traces like likes
and posts but not passive engagement
like views three they do not consider
all the potential places users are
impacted by this deep platforming event
might migrate to they did this huge
study a quasi experimental study of 165
deplatforming events targeted at 101
influencers they looked at Reddit and
then manually created the data and did
all of this stuff through a difference
in difference approach we found that
deplatforming reduces online attention
after 12 months we estimate that online
attention toward deplatformed influences
is reduced by 63% so it works and on
Google by 4 % on Wikipedia wow so this
is a really effective thing 63% on
Google and 43% further as we study over
100 deplatforming events we can analyze
in which cases D platform is more or
less impactful revealing nuances about
the intervention notably we find that
both permanent and temporary
deplatforming reduce online attention
toward influencers overall this work
contributes the ongoing efforts to map
the effectiveness of content moderation
interventions driving platform
governance away from speculation so we
got some hard fast data 63% on Google
and 43% on Wikipedia from uh
deplatforming that sucks for those
influencers who were part of this test
they're like great now I'm [ __ ]
because you had to run a test on me I
think that it was they looked at
existing deplatforming events I see so
you're Alex Joneses your Milo yopos your
Tates or whatever would have been looked
at and uh I've never understood the
whole oh it's a stri and effect you know
it makes people yeah sometimes though
but it's very I mean Shane is I'm trying
to
Kanye he was already huge before but
Chappelle already huge before so yeah
that that you kind of have to have a
base and you have this leeway as well
and it's all about Optics you know I
think that Kanye's is in an interesting
position because he genuinely doesn't
care doesn't seem to care and then Jesus
God damn it I missed I was watching the
Super Bowl I even texted you during it
but I
missed the
Kanye advert did you see that yeah it
was awesome I only saw it after the
event yeah just him on a phone hey I
spent 7even million bucks buy my album
uh thank you so good and it worked he
made Millions on it yeah uh but so he
kind of doesn't care as is evident by
his handheld uh Super Bowl vertically
shot Super Bowl advert and then um
Chappelle uh and Shane have got this
like it's you know they gift people joy
in a way yeah so I don't know I feel
like you you guys I said this ages ago
that I feel like everyone should do
stand up once so that they always have
the ability to say hey I'm just a
comedian they've just got that as they
get out of jail free card well my thing
is look you can hate the comic you can
hate the message the guy has to say or
the girl is saying but like why does it
have to go away like why the
deplatforming why can't you just go
that's not for me you know when you're
on campus and they're doing like a you
know a trans drum circle for uh climate
change you go all right I'm I'm not
going to that I'm going to get drunk but
you're not going to we got to shut this
down and that's the part that bugs me is
like why are they shutting down that's
so that's so trumpian all these people
hate Trump are very dictator you know
same like defund the police people tend
to make a lot of rules also so I'm like
you're just policing everything it it's
very uh mirrored I saw there's a house
just around the corner from where I live
that's got defund the police sign in the
front garden and every single morning I
see this and a uh private security
sticker in the front window yeah there
you go every single time that I walk
past it I think like is this a joke we
need a word for that like the the
climate change activist who's on the
private jet to give his lectures about
climate change you know the the the
Republican senator who's like God hates
[ __ ] but he's blowing a guy in the rest
stop you know there's this
overcompensation of like you got to do
this I'm not doing that but you got to
do it so the the closest thing is luxury
beliefs oh D so a friend Rob Henderson's
repop polarized this it's not his
original invention but he says luxury
beliefs are uh beliefs held by the upper
classes that bestow status on them but
incur costs on people of the lower class
that's good yeah so defund the police is
a perfect example of this another one
that's kind of obvious is um two parent
households have no advantage or getting
married has no Advantage for raising a
child so you look at the number of
college graduates and people in the
operational LS of society almost all of
them are married in monogamous
relationship ship with a classic nuclear
family setup and the lower classes that
may believe this particular narrative
that's pushed by them are the ones that
suffer in the same way as you behind
your gated community tweeting yeah we
really need to you know these police are
racist and we don't we they shouldn't be
there and all the rest of it's like yeah
but you're not a black guy from inner
city Chicago yeah exactly I know and it
looks good on paper like uh I saw in
California they're doing a thing where
they're lowering test standards for
black kids cuz they're having trouble in
school and I'm like I guess that's nice
cuz moral pass but you're [ __ ] them
in the future like isn't that way worse
there's a huge problem in Illinois at
the moment in the schooling system some
huge percentage of kids can't read at
grade level and then they finish uh high
school and they get out and it's just
there's not there's nothing there they
finish like K through 12 they've math
ability is way behind where they should
be reading comprehension is way behind
where they should be you think what are
you learning I know what are you doing
it's scary you following the Roland
frier no oh this is right up your anal
baby this is this is Chris all day long
I don't want to get too much into it but
uh he's a Harvard guy Harvard Professor
very like the youngest uh black
professor at Harvard to get tenure or
whatever you call it I don't know
brilliant guy from the hood black guy
made it to Harvard did it wrote a bunch
of books esteemed everybody loves
he started doing studies on police and
black uh you know crime and all that and
he came out with a study that there's
actually way less Black Death from
police than we think and they're not
actually going after black people as
much as we think they are this is his
study he couldn't believe the numbers
because of you know because what we've
been hearing for years and years so he
did it he did it for a year with eight
interns working under him he couldn't
believe the numbers so he said let's do
another year and do it again
with eight different people just to make
sure we got it and it came out the same
way and everybody at Harvard's like
don't put this out it'll ruin you which
goes back to what I was saying about how
I'm okay with the [ __ ] but at least
let me acknowledge it they don't even
want you to acknowledge it you know so
he's like I'm putting this out this is
data it's facts they're like it doesn't
look good don't put it out they tried to
get him fired they tried to ruin him
they tried to meet to him they tried all
these things he beat everything and he
put it out and now he has an armed guard
with him all day long cuz he's getting
death threats so he's got his kid at the
grocery store with a [ __ ] security
guard and the irony of like hey I'm just
saying it's not as bad out there for
black people as we think to saying that
to now needing protection from a cop I
mean the whole thing's wacky and I'm not
saying he's right or wrong folks don't
come after me I'm just saying this is
happening in America right now and it's
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