Anti-immigration activists are dominating YouTube

Hi, hi, Recast fam! Sabrina is back as our guest host filling in for Brakkton this week. Russia declares a new phase of war in its invasion of Ukraine, a federal judge overturns U.S. mask mandates for travel and South Africa faces disastrous flooding. But today, we’re starting off by talking about immigration. Border crisis. Border wars. Border security. Protect borders. Mass migration. Immigrants are criminals. End chain migration. Illegal immigrant gangs. Uncivilized. These are some of the central keywords and themes included in viral anti-immigration videos on YouTube. They’re hardly a surprise for anyone following immigration, as immigration opponents for years have used that language to argue that the U.S. needs to crack down on immigration — both legal and undocumented. But a new report by Define American, a nonprofit looking to shift the narrative around immigrants through storytelling, is delivering a surprising finding for the immigration advocacy world: There’s a lot they can learn from how anti-immigration groups get their point across, particularly when it comes to YouTube. The report, which includes research in key swing states, shows that YouTube has proved to be a critical space for shaping opinion on immigration — and even influencing voting patterns. It also looks at how immigration advocates and opponents have used starkly different messaging strategies, with opponents largely being more effective by investing in digital media and tailoring their messages to undecided voters. The immigrant advocacy group teamed up with Change Research, a polling firm, for part of the report to survey more than 3,200 likely voters in Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. They quizzed respondents on their YouTube viewing habits to see if it influenced their beliefs on immigration — and it did. Nearly 20 percent of likely voters reported having changed their views on immigration because of content they saw on YouTube, a number that jumped to 25 percent among people ages 18 to 34, according to the report. Almost 30 percent contacted a political representative — and 21 percent went so far as to change their vote for a political representative based on their reaction to immigration-related content they saw on YouTube. Shauna Siggelkow, co-author of the report and director of digital storytelling at Define American, explained that immigration opponents for years have understood the importance of staking out a big presence on digital platforms, like YouTube, allowing them to dominate the conversation. As an example, she said, throughout the 2016 election cycle, Breitbart consistently pushed out anti-immigrant messaging, which made immigration a central talking point. That same election cycle, President Donald Trump pushed anti-immigrant messaging — and won. “The fact [is] that Democrats or, really, pro-immigration advocates were not paying attention to this anti-immigration machine that we know exists on the other side in digital spaces,” Siggelkow said. “All these years later, going into the 2024 elections, I think [it’s clear] we really missed a lesson there.” Many of YouTube’s most successful anti-immigration videos have prominently featured the Great Replacement, a white nationalist theory, according to the report. Summed up, the top-performing YouTube videos have a similar central narrative: It’s logical to be against immigration because immigration will destroy you, your family and your way of life. The group’s research, however, went further than identifying narratives and found that with similar packaging to anti-immigration videos, pro-immigration content can be significantly more effective. One of the top takeaways was that explainer videos, which break down complicated topics, are the most popular — and effective — for shaping and changing opinions on immigration. Another was that the videos typically use animation graphics to illustrate their argument, which they found moves undecided voters more than other presentation styles. With the findings, Define American has come up with several mechanisms and tactics that immigration advocates should be using going forward and they’re sharing the report (and a toolkit) with more than 100 national organizations, including Immigration Hub, FWD.US and the Bridge Alliance. “Liberal appeals have often focused on, ‘Meet this person. They’re a decent person trying to have a decent life. Can you extend your empathy to them?’” said Eli Pariser, board president of MoveOn.org, a progressive advocacy group, and co-founder of Upworthy, a viral and uplifting content website. Instead, Pariser said, the focus should be, “‘Here’s a coherent explanation of the whole system that explains local conditions you’re facing and the world at large.’ “If we want people to believe as I do that immigrants are adding a lot to American communities and economies,” Pariser added, “we have to actually tell the story of why that is the case.” It’ll be interesting to see how this impacts messaging (or not) in the midterms. … And in 2024. And as always, we’ll be watching. Visit us for more information at: http://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/index.html