How a news aggregator became the engine of the alt-right
In short: In 2007, it was a simple links-aggregator. By 2016, it was the self-declared platform for the alt-right. Follow the dramatic rise and the massive, advertiser-driven decline of one of America's most controversial media entities.
Founded in 2005 by Andrew Breitbart, the platform began as a news aggregator, leveraging links from the Drudge Report to grow. Originally envisioned as the 'Huffington Post of the right,' the site's mission evolved significantly after Andrew Breitbart's death in March 2012. Under the leadership of executive chairman Steve Bannon, the site transitioned into a tabloid-style outlet that aligned itself with the European populist right and the American alt-right movement.
The site's influence peaked during the 2016 US presidential election, serving as a primary rallying point for Donald Trump's supporters and acting as the most shared source by Trump supporters on Twitter, according to a Harvard study. However, this era was marked by intense controversy. While management denied ties to white supremacy, critics and organizations like the Anti-Defamability League accused the site of promoting extremist, racist, and anti-Semitic views. The site's management, including figures like Milo Yiannopoulos, was also accused of advancing the ideas of neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups.
The financial fallout from these controversies was severe. Following the 2016 election, an activist campaign led by Sleeping Giants resulted in over 2,000 organizations removing Breitbart from their advertising buys. Between April and June 2017, the site lost approximately 90% of its advertisers. This economic pressure triggered a massive collapse in readership: monthly visitors plummeted from 17.3 million at the start of 2017 to just 4.6 million by May 2019, eventually reaching around 700,000 by 2024.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Breitbart News
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