Cutthroat Clippers: The Hidden Force Flooding Your Feed

The practice of "clipping" — segmenting podcasts, videos, and live events into countless shorter versions — has become a pervasive strategy, raising questions about its long-term viability within algorithmic content ecosystems. Earlier this year, following a tumultuous period as the former second-in-command at the FBI, Dan Bongino returned to his prominent role in video podcasting. After his January departure from the FBI, Bongino launched an extensive promotional campaign for the return of his program, The Dan Bongino Show. This included securing a billboard in New York's Times Square and releasing teaser videos for his first new episode in months. Bongino also employed a more experimental promotional tactic: utilizing clippers to amplify portions of his show to a broader audience.

Clippers are typically anonymous social media accounts dedicated solely to accumulating views. These accounts extract the most exciting, controversial, or shocking moments from long-form content, such as hours-long livestreams or podcasts. While some accounts specialize in clipping, companies also recruit existing accounts with established follower bases. Clippers operate globally (one tech founder reportedly described some as “hungry Slovakian teenagers”), yet predominantly target English-speaking audiences.

Upon receiving source material from a brand, clippers condense it and disseminate their edited versions widely across the internet. This often results in hundreds or even thousands of clipping accounts sharing similar videos, all in direct competition. Many individuals may unknowingly encounter significant moments from TV shows, celebrity podcast appearances, or new music through these clips, perceiving them simply as shared content. Clippers require no genuine affiliation with the subjects they promote, and the clipped content itself isn't necessarily creative, transformative, or even inherently interesting. It functions as the internet's "cartilage," serving as placeholders for algorithms to ingest and distribute.

A campaign listing on the service Clipping.net detailed a 31-day initiative for The Dan Bongino Show, commencing the day after his podcast's February return. Requirements were minimal: clippers were instructed to extract moments from new podcast episodes and include #danbongino in the video caption. The campaign spanned TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, with clippers receiving $150 for every 100,000 views, disbursed via PayPal. A Discord message related to The Dan Bongino Show indicated a budget of $2,000. Bongino’s team did not respond to requests for comment.

Anthony Fujiwara, founder of Clipping, conveyed to The Verge that “It’s just a necessary marketing play that if you’re not doing you’re behind.” He added, “Clipping lets you abuse the algorithms of other platforms to grow your product exponentially.” Fujiwara reports that 62,000 clippers utilize his platform, earning an average of $3,000 per month, with the majority based in the U.S.

Fujiwara further clarified their selection process, stating, “We verify using their audiences as a metric for who we want to be a clipper,” and controversially added, “Indian views don’t help anyone.”

For those seeking attention, social media in the age of algorithmic recommendation feeds is akin to a form of gambling. Creators and influencers can optimize content, titles, and thumbnails, but ultimately, they are "pulling a virtual slot machine arm," hoping for views, engagement, and subsequent revenue. For over a decade, content creators have endeavored to reverse-engineer "the algorithm." Employing clippers allows companies to "gamble on content at scale" without incurring upfront costs for a network of contractors; why make one bet when fifty are possible? Despite recent discussions surrounding its use, motivations, and whether paying anonymous accounts to promote content constitutes deception or manufactured fandom, clipping is not a novel phenomenon. Increasingly, the social internet is saturated with both paid and unpaid clips that serve as substitutes for