Algorithmic Alchemy: The Power of the Witch on YouTube

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.