Davey Alba
LightNews LightNews
banner
davey.bsky.social
Davey Alba
@davey.bsky.social
14K followers 1.2K following 240 posts
Bloomberg tech reporter / Google, Big Tech, misinfo / https://daveyalba.com / ask for my Signal
Posts Replies Media Videos
davey.bsky.social
YouTube has eased content rules in the Trump era, narrowing removals & letting controversial creators return—a shift experts say lets more hateful content persist. The platform is now where the politics of consumption flow freely. bloom.bg/3Kaio9w
November 20, 2025 at 5:08 PM
davey.bsky.social
There's a lot more reporting in our story & I hope you’ll read. But what I hope isn’t lost is how YouTube’s scale has let this niche content universe flourish. As George Farmer, who runs the Candace podcast told us, “YouTube is the printing press of the digital age, if you want to call it that.”
George Farmer, who runs the Candace podcast and is Owens’ husband, cast YouTube’s role in stark terms. “YouTube is the printing press of the digital age, if you want to call it that,” he said. He added that podcasting has leaned more conservative in part because many right-leaning voices were “pushed out of the mainstream orbit.” That dynamic has also shaped which advertisers show up: “If you’re pitching to a conservative listener, you’re going to want to be a more conservative brand.” Farmer is also the former chief executive officer of Parler, the social media site that had billed itself as a platform for “uncancelable free speech.”
November 20, 2025 at 5:03 PM
davey.bsky.social
Podcast ads are heavily themed, depending on the show: Candace Owens had 90%+ anti-establishment ads; Kelly/Carlson/Shapiro 80%+ ideology; Nelk Boys 96% masculinity/hobbies. Major brands like DoorDash & BetterHelp also appeared on Rogan & Von's shows. bloom.bg/3Kaio9w
November 20, 2025 at 4:54 PM
davey.bsky.social
And, using data from Podscribe, a 3rd party podcast analytics firm, we made an effort to quantify spending on right-leaning podcasts. The top 10 conservative brands quadrupled monthly ad spend from 2023 to 2025, reaching ~$5M/month in 2025. bloom.bg/3Kaio9w
The top 10 advertisers spending the most on host-read ads on the right-leaning podcasts are investing nearly four times more per month in 2025 than they did on average in 2023. So far this year, those brands have collectively spent about $5 million a month on podcast advertising, according to Bloomberg’s analysis of Podscribe data.
November 20, 2025 at 4:50 PM
davey.bsky.social
We also tracked themes used by the 188 unique advertisers to sell, sorting them into 5 buckets:

3/10 used ideological appeals
~1/4 leveraged alternative health
~1/5 each used anti-establishment or security messages
13% appealed to masculinity

bloom.bg/3Kaio9w
Three in 10 advertisers relied on ideological appeals — emphasizing “pro-life,” Christian, pro-gun, “America first,” or pro-military themes, or attacking Democrats, gender identity or policies they described as liberal. Roughly a quarter promoted the “Make America Healthy Again” agenda or pushed health and wellness products that they framed as natural or an alternative to conventional medicine. About 16% leaned on safety and security themes, while another fifth invoked anti-establishment rhetoric, railing against big corporations, public agencies, or institutions in medicine, education and finance. Several also catered to a distinctly masculine audience, tapping into a segment of the population that, polling data show, came out in force for Trump last year — many of them electrified by the podcasts that were part of this analysis. The strategy of using ideology to persuade someone to make a purchase — especially through an influencer — is powerful, said Emerson Brooking, a resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who studies online networks. “American culture has built up the idea of brand choice as a political act,” he said. The rise of political — and often right-wing — podcasts, which are an extremely influential force in listeners’ lives and opinions, has “opened the door to a whole industry of politically coded kitsch products that seek to target this exact demographic,” he said.
November 20, 2025 at 4:09 PM
davey.bsky.social
The ads we reviewed were fascinating. They revealed products like Republican Red Winery, Black Rifle Coffee, and XX-XY Athletics—all targeting ideological consumers. Other advertisers included gold companies, debt services counseling for issues like porn addiction, and more bloom.bg/3Kaio9w
November 20, 2025 at 4:06 PM
davey.bsky.social
This was a follow-up to our story in Jan when we dug into how YouTube’s conservative podcasts led young men to the right. We listened to 876 episodes from 8 popular podcasters, noting every host-read ad. At least one ad with a political message appeared in 91% of videos reviewed. bloom.bg/3Kaio9w
YouTube’s Right-Wing Stars Fuel Boom in Politically Charged Ads
YouTube’s MAGA stars aren’t just talking politics—they’re selling it
bloom.bg
November 20, 2025 at 3:41 PM
davey.bsky.social
also liked the interview with the kid tbh! that one was good, what a fun assignment
October 16, 2025 at 4:54 PM
davey.bsky.social
Cybertrucks: Creating Divorced Men Since 2023
October 16, 2025 at 4:54 PM
davey.bsky.social
As a personal aside, even though this story was sobering to work on, it was cool teaming up with my former colleagues from BuzzFeed News (RIP). Hoping for more collabs with @zhirji.bsky.social @jasonleopold.bsky.social in the near future 🤍
September 18, 2025 at 1:38 PM
davey.bsky.social
In @melissaryan.bsky.social's view, this political climate—in which public officials who try to provide transparency are politicized and attacked—is an even bigger obstacle than budget cuts in the fight against false claims.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Trump’s team has already overseen a massive scale back of FEMA’s staffing, funding and programming. As part of a review of contracts, FEMA ended its agreement with ZeroFox, according to a former official familiar with the situation. A FEMA spokesperson confirmed that it ended the ZeroFox contract in April. For Melissa Ryan, founder of Card Strategies, a consulting firm that researches disinformation, the current political climate — in which public officials who attempt to provide transparency are often politicized and attacked — is a bigger obstacle than budget cuts in the fight against false claims. “So many of the new government appointees are Trump loyalists, and attempting to actually respond effectively to disinformation would make whoever made the attempt a target for MAGA and the administration,” she said.
September 18, 2025 at 1:35 PM