LONDON: More than two thirds of children have regularly seen content online telling them how to look and behave, according to research in the UK, warning of the speed at which algorithms can expose young people to "harmful gendered content”.
Almost a third of girls (32%) and nearly a quarter of boys (23%) said content they viewed online had stopped them acting, dressing or behaving in ways they wanted to, the Plan International UK survey found.
The global charity, which works to advance equality for girls, also tested six fake TikTok accounts and said content feeds for 13-16 year-olds became "clearly gendered within the first 20 minutes of use” and could expose users to "increasingly specific and harmful gendered content” after less than two hours of scrolling.
Accounts representing girls were shown videos promoting "unrealistic beauty standards and luxury lifestyles”, the Plan research found, while the fake boys’ accounts were served content which the charity described as "glorifying wealth, physical strength and emotional isolation, alongside misogynistic narratives”.
They also found that one of the accounts – for a 13-year-old girl built around music, dance and drama – ended up being served videos about mental health and feeling sad, followed by suicide, self-harm and substance abuse content.
Plan said that while the content was reported during testing, it was found by TikTok not to breach community guidelines.
TikTok has been contacted for comment.
Plan’s survey of 1,440 seven- to 17-year-olds across the UK in February and March this year found seven in 10 girls (70%), and more than two-thirds of boys (67%) regularly saw messages online telling them how they should look, behave, dress or what careers and interests they should pursue.
The survey also found around six in 10 (62%) young people want social media companies to do more to remove harmful content.
Algorithms are generally designed to keep users engaged on a site and generally filter, rank and recommend content to someone based on their profile and previous content they have liked or viewed.
Online safety campaigners have repeatedly warned of the dangers of harmful content being suggested to people as they scroll.
Kathleen Spencer-Chapman, director of influencing and external affairs at the charity, said their research suggested misogyny "is not confined to the darkest corners of the Internet, it is woven into the everyday content that children are fed without asking for it”.
She added: "While girls are more likely to recognise and call out sexist content, boys are too often trapped in an online echo chamber where narrow ideas of masculinity centred on money and dominance are normalised.
"The attitudes shaped online rarely stay online – they influence how young people see themselves, how they treat one another and how they understand the world around them.
"If we allow algorithms to keep pushing this content, girls will continue to bear the brunt of a rise in misogyny, and we will see hard-won progress towards gender equality placed at risk.” – PA Media/dpa
Those suffering from problems can reach out to the Mental Health Psychosocial Support Service at 03-2935 9935 or 014-322 3392; Talian Kasih at 15999 or 019-261 5999 on WhatsApp; Jakim’s (Department of Islamic Development Malaysia) family, social and community care centre at 0111-959 8214 on WhatsApp; and Befrienders Kuala Lumpur at 03-7627 2929 or go to befrienders.org.my/centre-in-malaysia for a full list of numbers nationwide and operating hours, or email sam@befrienders.org.my.
