But when a user changes settings to allow “x-tagged” content to be viewed, streams with thousands of viewers discussing the Capitol riot quickly dominate the home page. In his Thursday night stream, Fuentes, which drew 20,000 viewers, called Wednesday’s events “a flash of hope” that “showed what is possible”.
Neither Gionet nor Fuentes responded to requests for comment.
“Everything on this platform is fake,” said Jovanovic, 34, the longtime streamer. “It is like a cardboard building that shows Disneyland. As soon as you press it, it is death and carnage. “
Jovanovic said he was suspended from the site in December after being accused of harassing another streamer – an accusation he denies – and subsequently barred permanently after complaining about Dlive on Twitter.
Other far-right users who joined Dlive last year include at least half a dozen QAnon conspiracy theorists, some of whom were stopped on YouTube when the platform cracked down on QAnon accounts in October.
On Wednesday, in addition to Gionet, channels affiliated to the far right called Woozuh, Gloomtube and Loulz also broadcast the attack on the Capitol, as well as an account called Murder the Media, which is affiliated with the Proud Boys, a far-right, neo-fascist organization. The words “Murder the Media” were scrawled on a Capitol door.
“Are they going to arrest us?” a Dlive streamer named Zykotik wondered aloud as he discussed his plans to ignore the Washington curfew. A man who identified himself as Clifford approached the stream at Zykotik. “Are you diving?” Zykotik asked. The man said yes.
Because Parler, Gab and other sites don’t offer ways to make money, streaming on Dlive has become a key part of the strategies of many far-right activists, said Megan Squire, a professor of computer science at Elon University.