‘Male psychology as a market’: Push for crackdown on violent sexual content online puts big tech companies on notice

Social media empires are being put on notice for content that promotes controlling, violent sexual acts.

Big tech companies are radicalising young men into harmful sexual acts, the founder of education and advocacy organisation Teach Us Consent is expected to tell the National Press Club on Wednesday.

Chanel Contos will say the content is pushed by bad actors who share commercial infrastructure and have identified male psychology as a market and together, they make up the “manosphere”.

“Young men online seeking community, belonging, and self improvement advice are targeted with content that blames women for their misfortune and reinstates harmful and outdated gender roles,” she is expected to say.

Contos will say boys aged between 16 and 18 are likely to be fed misogynistic content less than 25 minutes after signing up to social media.

That was true even if preferences were set to try and exclude it, according to research from Teach Us Consent.

Teens are regularly fed content suggesting women should not leave the house alone, should not work and should not be in charge of their own money.

Most harmful content starts in the wellness landscape through gym videos or motivational content.

They then promote good looks and dominance over women as markers of male worth.

Contos will tell the press club men who subscribe to those ideals are twice as likely to binge drink and eight times as likely to have suicidal thoughts as their peers.

Australian teenage boys aged 16 to 18 are committing sexual assault against children more frequently than adults are, the Australian Child Maltreatment Study found in 2023.

Contos previously cited media content as a driver, noting her organisation had found an explosion in peer-on-peer teen sexual violence in the past five years.

The federal government is exploring whether Australians should be able to opt out of algorithmically curated social media feeds, Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek told ABC Insider’s program on Sunday.

The announcement came after a 16-year-old Sydney girl’s death was linked in media reports to a suspected sexual choking act — a move often promoted to teenage boys through pornography and social media content.