This function references graphic depictions of violence and demise.
When Ellie*, a social media exec from London, scanned her private social media accounts this morning, she did not discover something out of the extraordinary. Her feed consists of “fashion creators and fashion/clothes adverts, recipes and eating out recommendations in London, relationship memes and comedy skits, left-wing politics, and Black history.”
However when her accomplice, Rob*, an engineer, goes on social media, it is a totally different story. He describes seeing “graphic content of people being injured”, together with folks getting run over or having their fingers chopped off. It is particularly unhealthy on X, the place he commonly sees footage of individuals showing to be killed. “People with their guts hanging out… people being shot dead,” he explains. Pornography, together with movies of prisoners showing to have intercourse with jail guards, can also be an everyday prevalence on his ‘For You’ feed.
Rob isn’t the one man being bombarded with such excessive content material. A brand new BBC Panorama documentary means that males and boys are being pushed violent and misogynistic content material on Instagram and TikTok – with out intentionally trying to find or participating with it.
BBC Panorama spoke to Cai, now 18, about his experiences with this disturbing content material on social media. He says that it got here “out of nowhere” when he was 16: movies of individuals being hit by automobiles, influencers giving misogynistic speeches, and violent fights.
It comes amid rising issues that boys and younger males are being radicalised on-line by ‘misogyny influencers’ like Andrew Tate. It is one factor for boys to actively interact with violent and misogynistic content material, however what hope do now we have in the event that they’re being pushed it by their very own social media algorithms?
Let’s rewind for a second. What are social media algorithms and the way do they work? “Social media algorithms determine what content you see in your feed by analysing your behaviour and interactions on the platform. They collect data on what you like, share, and comment on, who you follow, and how long you view content. This data helps the algorithm rank content based on its likelihood to engage you,” explains Dr Shweta Singh, affiliate professor on the College of Warwick.
Primarily, your social media algorithm must be directing you in direction of content material that you simply really wish to see based mostly on the content material you have beforehand interacted with. So, the idea goes that when somebody ‘likes’ or watches violent or misogynistic content material, their social media algorithm will reply accordingly – typically directing customers in direction of more and more excessive content material to maintain the person engaged.
Dr Brit Davidson, an Affiliate Professor of Analytics on the Institute for Digital Behaviour and Safety on the College of Bathtub’s Faculty of Administration, explains: “Any group that may be discriminated in opposition to will be marginalised additional on-line, as these biases present in information and person behaviour basically reinforce the algorithms.
“This can create self-perpetuating echo chambers, where users are exposed to more content that reinforces and furthers their beliefs. For example, someone who engages with ‘pickup artist’ (PUA) content (content created to help men ‘pick up’ women, known for misogyny and manipulation) may keep viewing misogynistic content and even be exposed to extreme misogynistic content, such as involuntary celibate, ‘incel’, groups, which can lead to dangerous behaviour both on- and offline.”
