THE YOUTUBE EFFECT

CLICK FOR TICKETS Guest Speaker via Live Zoom: Alex Winter, Director Q&A moderated by Tom Needham, Host of The Sounds of Film at WUSB Radio

Directed by Alex Winter

Alex Winter’s newest documentary, THE YOUTUBE EFFECT, takes viewers on a timely and gripping journey inside the cloistered world of YouTube and parent Google. It investigates YouTube’s rise from humble beginnings in the attic of a pizzeria to its explosion onto the world stage, becoming the largest media platform in history and sparking a cultural revolution, while creating massive controversy in the age of disinformation. Launched in 2005 with a video of a trip to the zoo, YouTube has built itself into an empire worth up to $300 billion dollars. In order to incentivize its creators and keep users engaged, it has created an algorithm that tries to predict what users will be most interested in. The basic idea is simple: make your content just the right way, and it will be promoted to users all over the world. However, the algorithm has created unforeseen privacy and ethical problems that could be the website’s downfall.

YouTubers, reporters, and experts alike join Winter in interrogating the effects these problems can have. With sharp editing and an anxiety-inducing message about the way social media controls our lives, THE YOUTUBE EFFECT is a startling but necessary look at a website that has become so intertwined with our daily lives. Running Time: 99 minutes