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YouTube may be taking steps to eradicate conspiracy theorists from its platform, but it has yet to be entirely successful. This week, NBC News reporter Ben Collins revealed that the search results for popular celebrities, including Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, are infested with QAnon theories, which suggest that left-leaning celebrities have ties to sex trafficking.
“This is what happens when you search Tom Hanks on YouTube today,” Collins tweeted with a screenshot of the search results. The top hits in the search include videos with titles like “Tom Hanks Is A Pedophile — Victim Speaks!” and “Tom Hanks’ Alleged “Sex Slave” Speak Out #Pizzagate #QAnon.” You would expect that a search for Tom Hanks would pull up some movie trailers and a few interviews, but thanks to YouTube’s algorithm, that doesn’t seem to be the case. “Last week, Qanon folks decided he was a pedophile. If you were to search YouTube today, you’d believe it,” wrote the NBC News reporter. When Collins searched for Steven Spielberg, he found a similar result: videos titled “Steven Spielberg Is A Pedophile” and “Famous Actor Exposes Hollywood Pedophiles! Steve Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and More! #Pizzagate” appeared above a 1992 interview with the director and a compilation of the best Spielberg movies of all time.
When Collins reached out to YouTube for comment, the video giant didn’t respond, but YouTube did lower the QAnon conspiracy videos’ rankings. Now, legitimate search results come up first for Hanks and Spielberg.
Last week, YouTube took a strong stance against conspiracy theorists when it deleted four videos from InfoWars, Alex Jones’ ultra-right wing company. “We’re continuously working to better surface and promote news and authoritative sources to make the best possible information available to YouTube viewers,” a YouTube spokesperson told BuzzFeed News. If YouTube is really interested in creating a better environment for its users, removing these QAnon videos seems like a natural next step.
