In this eye-opening documentary, Alex Winter presents a thoughtful and troubling examination of YouTube, a website with humble origins that’s gone on to fundamentally change the way we experience the world.

When it was founded in 2005, few could have predicted that a website primarily hosting silly homemade videos along the lines of “Charlie Bit My Finger” would one day become an influential media juggernaut worth billions of dollars. From the notorious harassment campaign Gamergate to the shocking explosion of online conspiracy videos, Winter also examines the way that YouTube’s all-powerful algorithm has allowed hate speech and misinformation to proliferate.

Allowing viewers to look anew at a site that has become embedded in our everyday lives, “The YouTube Effect” offers a sobering reminder of just how much society has changed since its inception and a wake-up call for how much further things could go.