What's happening?

It can take just 60 seconds to be drawn in. And once you have been hooked, there is more sexistShowing prejudice or discriminating against women and girls. content available than you would ever have time to see.

This is according to research commissionedDirected someone to make something or complete a task. by Vodafone for Safer Internet Day. It shows that boys are being targeted by AIA computer programme that has been designed to think.  algorithmsAny set of rules followed by a computer. In the context of social media, "the algorithm" refers to the intelligent AI that learns the interests of the user and presents them with posts that it thinks will interest them.. Nearly four in five boys have seen content online that is violent or encourages hatred of women. And one in 10 boys see such content within 60 seconds of going online.

The videos may seem like self-help videos at first. They focus on topics such as getting rich, going to the gym and becoming attractive to women. But they can quickly lead to an online culture known as "the manosphere".

The manosphere is linked to incel culture. It is made up of websites and blogs that try to encourage anti-feministSomeone who calls for women's rights and equality of the sexes. beliefs and hatred of women.

In some cases, men are encouraged to blame any things they do not like about their life on women. In turn, the number of girls that have experienced upsetting behaviour online has gone up since 2018.

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What can be done? Some say we need new laws that will push social media companies to stop online sexism and misogynyHatred of or discrimination against women. The term comes from the Ancient Greek "miso", meaning "hate", and "gyne", "woman"..

Others say we need more positive role modelsPeople you can look up to, who set a good example. instead. It is "manosphere" influencers that have caused the problem, they argue. So we need to find someone else for boys to look up to.

Can positive role models turn the tide?

Yes! Manosphere influencers are damaging both boys' views of themselves and their views of girls. The only thing that can change this are other influencers pushing more positive ideas.

No! We need to stop making people into idols. After all, nobody is perfect. Instead, we need new rules to stop people from sharing extreme ideas on social media - and to force social media companies to act.