GoyimTV relies on other mainstream and extremist sites for hateful content

GoyimTV is one of the most prolific hate sites on the internet. It features thousands of videos espousing racist, antisemitic, misogynistic and other extremist content.

The site, which appears to be a modern video-hosting platform, draws thousands of visitors a month. However, a recent Southern Poverty Law Center investigation of the site found that it relies on other platforms for much of its infrastructure and is largely dependent on content hosted by other video sites.

SPLC analysts examined 500 videos featured on GoyimTV that were associated with 216 different profiles on the site. The investigation indicated that GoyimTV hosted just over 1 in 10 (11%) of these videos. The backbone of the content reviewed was hosted by BitChute (36%), Odysee (29%) and YouTube (23%) — not GoyimTV itself. Less than 1% was hosted by Dailymotion, Vimeo and the now-defunct JoshWho TV. GoyimTV clearly relies on other platforms for a substantial chunk of its digital infrastructure. These platforms derive little to no benefit from GoyimTV’s piggybacking on their videos. However, they impact the site’s ability to function, spread hate and raise funds through daily streams.

Without deep examination of the videos, it is not apparent that the videos on the GoyimTV site are hosted by other platforms. It appears that the website allows people with GoyimTV profiles to feature videos on the site by simply embedding them, including content from other sites. In addition to removing the burden of video hosting from GoyimTV, it also allows users to feature content that they did not create or do not own.

GoyimTV and the GDL

Founded in 2020, GoyimTV is the online arm of the Goyim Defense League (GDL) and is run by GDL leader Jon Minadeo. Minadeo announced the start of the site with an antisemitic banner drop in Los Angeles. Not long after the site was announced, its hosting service, Epik, took it down following public pressure. Minadeo subsequently found a new host to restore its online presence.

Minadeo has used the platform to host his extensive library of videos, including his daily stream. While GoyimTV lacks the native ability to monetize content or process donations, Minadeo has incorporated Entropy chat functionality into his streams, which allows him to directly raise funds to support his and GDL’s activities. Entropy chat is a third-party service that allows content producers to raise funds on video-hosting sites that do not have a native functionality to do so.

Key hosting platforms for GoyimTV content

While GoyimTV was offline in 2020, Minadeo directed his followers and supporters to upload content to the BitChute platform. This instruction, likely due to BitChute’s relative lack of content moderation, may account for why BitChute still hosts more than one-third of the examined videos.

Founded in 2017, BitChute is an extremely small company that has previously been identified as a major source of violent, hateful content and misinformation. The platform has indicated that the company and employees are “staunch advocates for true freedom of expression” and will continue to provide “an open and uncensored space for creators and viewers alike.”

Odysee, which hosts roughly 3 in 10 of the examined videos, is a video-hosting and livestreaming platform founded in September 2020. Past investigation of Odysee by the SPLC indicated that the platform was a “digital threat” due to its lax content moderation, which allowed it to become a haven for content that would have otherwise been banned from other platforms. Since the SPLC’s investigation of Odysee, the platform has been acquired by Forward Research. However, concerns over content hosted by the platform remain.

Perhaps the most surprising host for GoyimTV content is the most mainstream of the platforms, YouTube. The platform, which hosts nearly one-quarter of GoyimTV’s content, has traditionally removed videos espousing hate or violence. Since Donald Trump’s election to a second term as president, however, YouTube’s commitment to removing this content has reportedly come into question, with The New York Times noting that the platform chose to “leave up videos with content that may break the platform’s rules rather than remove them, as long as the videos are considered to be in the public interest.”

It’s unclear what the public interest would be in much of the YouTube content featured on GoyimTV. Review of the videos indicated much of the YouTube content was not as extremist in nature, not featuring calls for violence or overtly racist or bigoted messages, as that hosted by BitChute or Odysee. However, it is still featured side by side with this content.

It would be relatively easy from a technical standpoint for YouTube and the other platforms to block GoyimTV’s use.

Image at top: Members of the Goyim Defense League march in September 2023 during a rally outside Orlando, Florida. (Credit: David Decker)