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Irish Examiner
3 days ago
- Irish Examiner
Concern as report finds misogynist content remains widely accessible to young people
Children and women's networks have expressed alarm after new research shows that misogynist videos featuring Andrew Tate are easily accessible to boys as young as 13 across Europe, including in Ireland. The Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) said it identified 100 of the most-viewed YouTube videos of Mr Tate promoting misogyny over the last year, attracting nearly 54m views. Researchers set up accounts in the US, Britain, Germany, and Ireland, and found that 98 out of the 100 videos in Ireland and Germany were accessible to boys as young as 13 (all in Britain and US). The report said Tate's promotion of hate and violence against women, led to YouTube, TikTok, and Meta closing his channels in 2022. 'However, thanks to subscribers of his online course 'The Real World', Tate has retained his presence on the platform through fan-made content,' the report said. ISPCC head of policy Fiona Jennings said: 'While Andrew Tate has been banned from publishing new content to YouTube, we are aware previous content continues to be widely available. To learn from the CCDH's research that this content is being served up to the accounts of 13-year-old boys is totally unacceptable.' She said research by Professor Debbie Ging in DCU found that recommender algorithms in social media platforms are 'rapidly amplifying toxic content'. From what is revealed to us through conversations on our Childline service, we believe there is a high probability that engagement with such content does effect boys and has a knock-on impact on girls. 'When we look at profiled engagements such as 'being forced to make or watch pornography' or 'being sexually harassed or exploited', between 70-90% are from children identifying as female with an age profile from 10-16 years of age.' National Women's Council violence against women coordinator Ivanna Youtchak said: 'It is very concerning to see the influence of traditionalist and misogynistic views in digital spaces on children and young people.' She said figures such as Andrew Tate, Elon Musk, and Donald Trump promote views that men should dominate relationships, disregard women's opinions, and treat them as objects. 'Given the formative nature of this age group, they are more susceptible to adopting or experimenting with these harmful views,' Ms Youtchak said. 'It is therefore all the more important that school curricula address online harms, promote gender equality, and support young people to think critically. In addition, online platforms such as Youtube must be held accountable for the dangerous views they help to promote. A spokesperson for YouTube said: 'Andrew Tate's channels were terminated in 2022. Since then, we've removed hundreds of thousands of videos and terminated thousands of channels that have attempted to circumvent that original decision. "But as with all terminated users, not all content that features Andrew Tate will be removed. Only 11 videos from the CCDH report were shared with us to review — the majority have been removed for violating our Terms of Service, and we've terminated a number of the featured channels.'
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Yahoo
Incel extremism doubles online amid Adolescence backlash
Incel extremism groups online have nearly doubled their membership amid a backlash against the Netflix hit show Adolescence. The largest active online incel platform has increased in size to 30,000 members from 17,000 in September 2022, according to research by the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH). The platform received a peak of more than 2.7 million visits in the first quarter of this year, with posts reflecting the misogynistic, racist and anti-Semitic tendencies of participants. The forum is the online home for thousands of involuntary celibates or incels, who often express hostility to women and wider society, blaming them for their lack of sexual and romantic experiences. In an analysis by the CCDH of more than 650 posts from the forum's discussion threads, researchers found that one in four contained misogynist hate, racism or anti-Semitic conspiracies. A majority of posts expressed disapproval of the Netflix series, with forum members claiming the show's central character was too attractive to be an incel, or that the show's writers had failed to distinguish the subculture from misogynist influencers such as Andrew Tate. Adolescence became Netflix's third most-watched English language show in its history. It follows a teenager who delves into online misogynist communities before murdering a female classmate. In its research, CCDH found that forum members posted about rape every 29 minutes, while 16 per cent of posts contained a misogynistic slur. Researchers also noted that the volume of posts on the forum had grown over time to reach a daily average of 2,340 posts. Imran Ahmed, CCDH's chief executive, warned that Incel ideology on the internet had grown and was not restricted to the dark web. 'The misogyny and extremism we saw three years ago have not only intensified, they've multiplied,' he said. 'Incel communities, where young men and boys are encouraged to hate and hurt women, are not hidden in the deepest recesses of the dark web – these communities of tens of thousands of men are operating in front of our children's eyes, accessible in the browsers of their cell phones. 'I encourage parents and schools to have deeper conversations with their children that span beyond the fictional show of Adolescence and into the reality of radicalisation facing young boys. 'This is an immediate crisis that demands more research and urgent action from policymakers, tech companies, and parents.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
