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A new study from Dublin City University’s Anti-Bullying Centre claims that the recommender algorithms used by social media platforms are rapidly amplifying misogynistic and male supremacist content.
Researchers tracked, recorded and coded the content recommended to ten experimental accounts on ten blank smartphones – five on YouTube Shorts and five on TikTok.
The study found that all of the male-identified accounts were fed masculinist, anti-feminist and other extremist content, irrespective of whether they sought out such videos, and that they all received this content within the first 23 minutes of the experiment.
Once the account showed interest by watching such videos, the amount rapidly increased.
According to DCU, the YouTube Shorts accounts were recommended a larger amount of toxic content than the TikTok accounts.
Content featuring ‘Manfluencers’ (male influencers) accounted for the vast majority of recommended videos in the dataset.
The study was conducted by Professor Debbie Ging, Dr Catherine Baker and Dr Maja Andreasen.
“Ultimately, girls and women are the most severely impacted by these beliefs, but they are also damaging to the boys and men who consume them, especially in relation to mental wellbeing,” Professor Ging said.
“The social media companies must come under increased pressure from the government to prioritise the safety and wellbeing of young people over profit,” she added.
TikTok maintains that the research involved accounts that were set up to engage with content in a way that does not reflect how most users would experience the platform.
The video-sharing app said it does not allow hate speech or hateful behaviour, including misogyny and transphobia.
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