BitChute

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BitChute is a (relatively) "free speech" version of YouTube with the intended purpose of allowing the alt-right to host illegal content and hate speech that got banned from everywhere else. Due to its highly offensive content, BitChute repels almost every payment processing provider and hosting service, and no advertisers will even consider advertising on it. Because of this, it's advertising-free and mainly funded through donations.

BitChute was founded by Ray Vahey in January 2017 as a platform for neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and alt-right trolls who had been banned or demonetized on YouTube to carry on posting rubbish to their demented fans. The platform is still mainly composed of far-right hate merchants and conspiracy theorists, with some random terrorist content, gun nut videos, and the inevitable pro-Trump propaganda to be found in large quantities. The Southern Poverty Law Center has described the site as hosting "hate-fueled material".[1]

Funnily enough, it is situated in the United Kingdom, and because of this it was eventually compelled to remove hateful or violence-inciting speech at the behest of Ofcom. So although much of its content is still hate speech (as the people posting it are practically their entire user base), it inconsistently censors some of it, pleasing absolutely nobody.[2][3]

Technical details[edit]

BitChute videos are limited to a maximum of standard definition quality at 480p, typically at 854x480 resolution, with stereo or mono audio. The site uses MPEG-4 Part 10 (H.264/AVC) for video encoding and Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) at 96 kbit/s for audio encoding, stored using the .MP4 file format. Encoding on BitChute generally uses a lower bit rate and quality than leading video hosting services. Many older videos on BitChute are prone to being unplayable, despite their pages remaining online.

BitChute says it uses a JavaScript-based peer-to-peer WebTorrentWikipedia system that runs locally in a web browser. Everyone using the platform theoretically contributes to its running via this torrenting format. In practice, most or all videos are instead hosted directly by BitChute.[4] The site does not have advertising (because its content is so toxic that no advertiser will touch it) but instead runs off donations and membership fees. To avoid having their domain name suspended, BitChute uses the Epik registrar, known for hosting far-right sites.

BitChute viewers can send payments to video creators directly. However, the site has a poor track record with payment service providers, having been banned from using PayPal and other platforms.

YouTube mirroring[edit]

BitChute allows channels to automatically mirror videos from YouTube to BitChute. Videos were originally mirrored at up to 480p resolution. As of September 17, 2018, the maximum resolution is 360p.

Content[edit]

White House mirror[edit]

On August 23, 2018, an unofficial mirror of the White House YouTube channel was created on BitChute.[5][6] As the videos consist of US government works, they fall under the public domain, making it legal for this unofficial mirror to exist. The mirrored content is identical to its YouTube counterpart, including video IDs, although videos deleted on YouTube may remain on BitChute. Videos uploaded before September 17, 2018, may not be accessible on BitChute.

In contrast to YouTube, which has separate channel pages for the current Biden administration and the past Trump administration, BitChute includes both administrations' videos on one channel page. On BitChute, Biden videos almost exclusively receive thumbs-down ratings, while Trump videos generally receive numerous thumbs-up ratings.

Bullshit content[edit]

The main content on BitChute is content that is banned from YouTube because it is either far-right propaganda, hate speech, or conspiracy content. MAGA, conservative, and pro-Trump content is commonly hosted there (when the neo-Nazi brigade isn't accusing Trump of being a Zionist shill). Shock content is regularly hosted on the platform, and it has hosted the Christchurch shooting video and other terrorist content.

Bitchute also contains much conspiracy/New World Order/revisionism-related crankery that got censored removed from YouTube, with one of the most watched videos being a twelve-hour documentary called Europa: The Last Battle, which has over 1.79 million views as of April 2024.[7] Apparently, for whatever reason, the powers that be love deleting such "valuable" content off of YouTube but won't touch Bitchute with a light-year-long pole: thus, they're seen fit to continue.

The BitChute video classification tag of not safe for work (NSFW) and a not safe for life (NSFL) setting for extreme or strongly questionable content, much of which is illegal in numerous countries.

Prominent far-right and alt-right video creators not banned from YouTube cross-post their videos to BitChute, including Lauren Southern, Stefan Molyneux, and Paul Joseph Watson. The fact that these people are far from the most extreme users on BitChute should tip you off to how fucking awful the site is. A few normal content creators have also moved onto BitChute due to YouTube's incompetent and inconsistent moderation, or back up their videos to BitChute, although they are rapidly buried under an endless flood of alt-right bullshit.

A channel named "Black-Crimes-Matter" (name derived from Black Lives Matter), produced by the Voat user SporadicX2, contained highly racist, white supremacist, and anti-semitic material. It had over 9,000 subscribers by October 2020 but was blocked in February 2021 for breaking BitChute's community guidelines. The content was cross-posted to other racist sites, such as Gab.

In a nutshell (volume warning)[edit]

See also[edit]

  • RumbleWikipedia — a similar website
  • OdyseeWikipedia — another similar operation, based in the United States; the long-term viability of it is not clear after its LBRY cryptocurrency folded in July 2023, however[8]
  • Goyim Defense League, which operates GoyimTV — in case you needed an even more racist YouTube alternative
  • PewTube, BitChute's unofficial "predecessor" of sorts

External links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Michael Edison Hayden, A Problem of Epik Proportions. Southern Poverty Law Center, 11 January 2019.

    Now, [domain registrar Epik] has picked up the business of BitChute, a low-rent YouTube clone that carries an array of hate-fueled material, including white nationalist podcasts, propaganda linked to a murderous neo-Nazi group and a parody song called "N----- Babies," which chortles at the idea of slaughtering and then eating black infants.

  2. ↑ Andrew R.C. Marshall and Joseph Tanfani (August 22, 2022). "New breed of video sites thrives on misinformation and hate". Reuters.
  3. ↑ (September 12, 2023). "BitChute – a case study in how not to run a social media platform". CST Blog.
  4. ↑ Bitchute claims to be a decentralized platform—that’s not true - Daily Dot. November 27, 2019
    8chan's remorseful and/or disgruntled founder Frederick Brennan investigated the site's claims for Daily Dot, and found no evidence of peer-to-peer file sharing. On Twitter, Brennan mentions that some live-streaming might be peer-to-peer. BitChute responded by telling Brennan that "a change" is coming any day now, without meaningfully addressing any of Brennan's points.
  5. ↑ "President Trump Participates in a Roundtable". August 23, 2018. 
  6. ↑ "Vice President Pence Delivers Remarks Regarding the Administration's Space Policy Priorities". August 23, 2018. 
  7. ↑ https://www.bitchute.com/video/s1nPYDj7KBEQ/
  8. ↑ Jason Wilson (July 16, 2023). "Extremist-friendly tech company closes after legal fine". The Guardian.
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