Algorithmic alchemy: the power of the witch on YouTube

Abstract

This article explores the implications of the algorithmic representations of videos recommended by YouTube. The analysis is based on the mix of computational and qualitative explorations of an automated network of videos. The network was built around a seed video, a recording of a BBC television documentary broadcast in 1971: The Power of the Witch. This interdisciplinary article brings together contemporary witchcraft studies, digital studies around YouTube communities, and research on algorithmic inequalities. The authors explore which socially constructed ideas about witchcraft are echoed by the algorithmic artefact that forms the links between the clusters of videos within the network.

Metadata

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Zhang, H. Belinskaya, Y. Rodgers, D.A. Rodriguez-Amat, J.R. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8391-3638
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	© 2025 The Authors. Except as otherwise noted, this author-accepted version of a journal article published in Folklore is made available via the University of Sheffield Research Publications and Copyright Policy under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ © 2025 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Dates:	Accepted: 31 May 2025 Published (online): 10 December 2025 Published: 10 December 2025
Institution:	The University of Sheffield
Academic Units:	The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Journalism Studies (Sheffield)
Date Deposited:	30 Jun 2025 14:56
Last Modified:	12 Dec 2025 16:50
Status:	Published
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Refereed:	Yes
Identification Number:	10.1080/0015587X.2025.2539571
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID):	oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:228523

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Algorithmic alchemy: the power of the witch on YouTube

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