ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the actors and content items that constitute the flow of news especially across YouTube and Instagram, and the conditions under which it is shared. It provides a detailed overview of the automated media environment that operates beyond the often-referenced work of bots as automatic media producers, and shift towards the holistic approach of the unseen infrastructures of digital intermediation. The chapter also highlights some examples of content production techniques that are engaged in by content creators in this space to ‘game’ these automated and algorithmic-driven social media environments. It then draws on two specific case studies in the Australian and United States contexts that demonstrate the significance of YouTube news producers and the kind of influence they have on audiences. Finally, the chapter highlights how contemporary online content creation on these platforms plays into monetization, piracy, and fake news outside of the existing regulation markers.
