isolateByoblu

[Article featured on “Sicilia Libertaria” (Anarchist Sicily), 416. June 2021] [Qui in italiano]

The Youtube video platform has shut down the Byoblu channel (an Italian InfoWars‑like channel) owned by Claudio Messora (former Five Star Movement, now on far‑right positions). In the past we highlighted the Channel’s structural use of conspiracy theories as a vector for racist, misogynist, transphobic, and reactionary falsehoods in general. The post‑ideological Right used Byoblu as a fast track to propagate far‑right narrations in increasingly broad and diverse sectors of the population. [1]

In the aftermath of the shutting down, mainstream media either portrayed Youtube as a “censor” against “free speech”, or as the platform that made “the right choice”, saving “unaware citizens” from dangerous narratives.

Both evaluations are misleading: such a blatantly anti‑social channel as Byoblu had been thriving for 14 years and had guaranteed to Messora — but above all to Youtube/Google and other extractive social networks — dizzying profits thanks to paid advertising. The “naive” techno‑liberals could extract gold out of shit, and they will go on doing it until they can. (e.g. profiting from Covid misinformation during the pandemic.) [2] This holds for Youtube with Messora, for Facebook with the Nazi groups, for Twitter with Trump and for Mastodon Uno with Social Byoblu. Some might consider this hypocrisy; we see it as a business model, too.

Although we are relieved that Byoblu lost some of its visibility, we do not consider this top‑down intervention as a “political victory”. A victory would only be accomplished by a bottom‑up intervention, for example by grassroots initiatives and platforms. The closure of pro‑conspiracy‑theory social accounts by centralizing social platforms represents a contradictory rearrangement that is entirely internal to the field of our opponents: between the false‑naive “liberal” stream and the obscurantist one. While we observe it with detached interest, we maintain it is good to know about it in order to counter the spread of far‑right theories and narratives in our daily environments.

Messora has exploited his past visibility and the news of this shutting down as a springboard to gather donations, which he invests in the development of his media outreach. We ought to answer to those who insist that the closure of his channel has been a mistake and that “they are paying him a favour”. We cannot ignore that the practically undisturbed propagation of Byoblu on Youtube has fueled the transformation of Messora’s videoblog into a multimedia platform, in particular facilitating the official recognition of Byoblu as registered news broadcaster and the development of ByobluTv as nationwide digital terrestrial television. The shutting down of the channels comes too late: it should have been killed in the cradle, at the time when it was making money by spreading pseudo‑scientific and harmful misinformation on the HIV/AIDS epidemic. [3a][3b]

Despite the fact that Youtube shut down the channel, the need to oppose the nefarious narrations spread by Byoblu and others has not ceased. We will not stop reminding the anti‑social platforms that spread those narratives that they have responsibilities. We need the commitment of each and everyone in order to counter sexism, racism, and fascist‑like ideologies. Only a widespread bottom‑up response will bring us towards an authentic social transformation, emerging from an inclusive basis, in the respect of individual and collective self‑determination, through the weaving of relationships of tangible solidarity.

29th May 2021, Informal Group IsolateByoblu

[1] isolateByoblu, ByoBlu: il grimaldello della destra. (Byoblu: the right‑wing lockpick) 10/11/2020 https://qua.name/isolatebyoblu/byoblu-il-grimaldello-della-destra [2] Eleonora Bianchini, Byoblu, canale chiuso da YouTube. (Byoblu: Youtube shuts down the channel) 01/04/2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210523193239/https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2021/04/01/byoblu-canale-chiuso-da-youtube-social-distorce-il-dibattito-pubblico-con-la-censura-la-sua-azione-e-anticostituzionale/6151400/ [3] Claudio Messora, AIDS, la grande “balla” dell’HIV. (AIDS, the big HIV “hoax”) 14/02/2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20171016101444/https://www.byoblu.com/post/2012/02/14/AIDS-la-grande-balla.aspx following the arguments in the HIV/AIDS denialist movie “The science of panic”: https://vimeo.com/23068217