DLive
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
| 250px | |
| Web address | dlive |
|---|---|
| Commercial? | Yes |
|
Type of site
|
Live streaming |
| Registration | Optional |
| Launched | September 2018 (relaunch) |
DLive is an American video live streaming service which was founded in 2017. It was purchased by BitTorrent in 2019. Due to the site's lax enforcement of prohibited content guidelines, DLive has become a popular alternative to YouTube and Twitch among pro-white activists and other anti-establishment figures.
DLive uses blockchain for its servers and donation systems. It originally operated on the Steem blockchain, before switching to the Lino network upon its relaunch in September 2018, and later TRON network after its 2019 purchase by BitTorrent.
Contents
Company history
DLive was founded in December 2017 by Charles Wayn and Cole Chen, who studied at the University of California, Berkeley.[1][2] Initially based on the Steem blockchain, it was relaunched in September 2018 on the Lino Network blockchain.[3][4] With the launch, DLive billed itself as a streaming site which did not take a cut of streamers' revenue, a policy that lasted until December 2020.[1] Instead, 90.1% of subscription and gift revenues went directly to streamers while the other 9.9% was streamers' daily performance on the site.[2]
Right-wing conspiracy analyst Alex Jones temporarily moved to DLive after being banned from YouTube, but was also banned by DLive for violating its community guidelines in April 2019. By that month, Dlive self-reported 3 million monthly active users and 35,000 active streamers. In the same month, YouTuber PewDiePie signed an exclusive livestreaming deal with DLive, which lasted until his return to YouTube in May 2020.[2][5] In the two months after the signing, DLive's userbase grew by 67%.[6]
By late 2019, DLive was purchased by BitTorrent.[1] BitTorrent was itself owned by cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun's TRON Foundation, so DLive switched from the Lino Network to the TRON network.[7][better source needed]
Towards the end of 2019, DLive began attracting users from the political right because of its lax enforcement of prohibited content guidelines in comparison to more mainstream platforms. In June 2020, during the George Floyd riots, DLive changed its Twitter profile to "All Lives Matter", which was heavily condemned by the political left. By August 2020, the most popular programming on DLive included vaccine skepticism, alternative views on COVID-19 that opposed the politically correct view, and opposition to far-left extremists. In October 2020, QAnon streamers joined the platform after being deplatformed from YouTube.
User base and right-wing content
DLive viewers can tip content creators with a currency called "lemons". Many of the site's right-wing streams are only accessible after opting to see "x-tagged" content.
Unlike right-wing media alternatives such as Gab and Parler, DLive's donation and subscription system offers a monetization system, and top streamers make over $100,000.[1] In August 2020, eight of DLive's top ten earners are said to be white nationalists or other opponents of politically correct "official" corporate media viewpoints. In June and August 2020, such channels captured 96% of all viewers and 99% of viewers of Top 20 channels. It acts as a significant source of funding for white nationalists such as Nick Fuentes and alt-right entertainer Owen Benjamin. DLive also hosts former Identity Evropa leader Patrick Casey and Matthew Q. Gebert.
Use in U.S. Capitol attack
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
During the attack at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, at least nine DLive streams were online streaming their involvement in the day's events. Most notable among them was alt-right figure Tim Gionet, under the name "Baked Alaska", who earned more than $2,000 from tips that day and received messages on where to go into the building from his DLive chat. A Proud Boys associated account called "Murder the Media", a phrase that was written on the door of the US Capitol, also streamed.[1] In response, on January 9, DLive suspended the accounts of Baked Alaska, Murder the Media, and four other accounts that had participated. It also suspended the account of white nationalist Nick Fuentes, one of the site's most popular creators and a leader of the Groyper movement. The site balances of those accounts were frozen and future donations refunded.[8][9][10]
One week after the attack, white nationalist and Groyper Patrick Casey was using the site to downplay the significance of the riot while acknowledging that "our days on DLive seem to be numbered."
An analysis performed in January 2021 following the attack showed that approximately 95 percent of the views on DLive's streams that day went to right-wing streamers, at least nine of which were present at the Capitol. After the storming, Jewish-American magazine The Forward wrote a piece describing DLive as "A safe haven for Neo-Nazis".
On February 9, Representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi and Jackie Speier sent a letter to DLive calling on the company to censor the politically incorrect content on its site.
DLive has also been used by several channels to promote the QAnon psyop. As of March 2021, DLive streams "Patriots' Soapbox", a relatively high-profile QAnon channel.[11][12]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namednyt - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedtime - ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Further reading
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Template:2021 US Capitol attack Template:Cloud gaming and streaming services
