'Feminism is destroying masculinity': what young people are seeing online

He's concerned not all of his peers are doing the same.

"I have friends who say stuff like 'feminism is destroying masculinity' and it's like, do you even know what you're talking about? Like where is the proof of this?" the high school student says.

"[These influencers] sound so convincing... people hear that stuff and when you hear it enough you just think it's true."

Toxic masculinity has become the new spectre on social media, with the algorithm feeding misogynistic and violent ideas about what it means to be a man to Australia's young people.

Posts on how to get rich quick, how to get the best gym body, how to become irresistible to women, and how feminism has put men at a disadvantage are taking up more and more space on social media platforms.

But what are Australia's young people actually seeing on social media? And do they believe what they see?

Harrison says he sees videos promoting hypermasculinity several times a week.

Posts from Andrew Tate, a controversial influencer who promotes the dominance of men over women and traditional gender roles, are a common feature on his feed.

"You like a video where Tate is saying the BMW M5 competition is awesome, and I'm like, yeah, the M5 competition is awesome," he says.

"So I like that and then I see him talking about something else and it's like, oh I don't want Andrew Tate, I want cars.

"I'll see a few [of his videos] in a row and then I'll just realise that I don't care about what I'm seeing and I don't want to keep seeing that because I prefer the cool cars."

Menslink, a mentoring and support network for young men in Canberra, is on the front line.

One of their educators, William Molloy, spends his days working with hundreds of young men in Canberra to help them think critically about what they see in their social media feeds.

He says there's been a change over the last few years in what young men want from their lives, and how they define success and happiness.

While in the past Canberra boys might have said they want to have fun, be happy, and have friends in their futures, Molloy says social media has pushed new ideas into their feed.

"Now a lot of our responses we're hearing [from young men] is that I want to be rich, I want to be famous, I want to be buff, and I want to be well-liked by others around me," Molloy says.

"That comes up all the time, nonstop."

Not all the ideas Menslink is contending with are outwardly harmful.

There are plenty of memes and comic trends such as "rawdogging" an aeroplane flight; sitting on a plane for hours with no entertainment but the flight map and no food or water; or advice on becoming the sigma male, who is successful, attractive and doesn't ever need help.

But it's the "unfiltered influence" of social media and the darker messaging around masculinity that prompted Menslink to launch their education program Unplugged in mid-2023. Young men's obsessive focus on fame, wealth and women deeply worries the charity.

Principal of Canberra's St Mary Mackillop College Michael Lee says while social media plays an important role in connecting and educating people, it doesn't always do it in an informed way, which can be confusing for young people.

"I don't think they all necessarily understand that social media is the letters to the editor column, it's not the editorial page," he says.

"I think [these influencers are] masterful at presenting or tapping into disaffection, confusion and misunderstanding, and legitimising what I think might ultimately be antisocial and violent behaviours."

It's a part of social media's dark underbelly, according to Dr Simon Copland; influencers peddle misogynistic and toxic content for likes, the algorithm feeds the videos and posts to young people, and the social media platforms make money off people's attention.

Dr Copland wrote his PhD on misogyny and the "manosphere"; online spaces where men promote hypermasculine and sexist ideas.

He says many of the misogynistic opinions online were mainstream before social media, but have now been repackaged for a younger audience, in part because controversial opinions drive attention.

"Young men are searching out for something," Copland says.

"These men's rights groups are giving some men a real sense of, this is who I can blame for all the problems in my life, and it's women. It's a really simple, easy explanation.

"[These influencers] are nothing but snake oil merchants; they see that there's genuine problems in the world, and then they're providing these fake solutions and they're making millions of dollars off it. It's quite infuriating."

While videos about wolves and plane trips may seem inconsequential, other beliefs of the "manosphere" are not. Misogynistic beliefs formed part of the terrorist ideology behind the 2018 van attack in Toronto, Canada, which killed 11 people, and the 2020 shooting in Hanau, Germany which killed nine people.

Tackling extreme online misogyny was a focus of the federal government's 2024 budget with funding allocated to new age assurance technology, which aims to control children's exposure to concerning online content, and a renewal of the "Stop it at the Start" campaign, which encourages conversations around consent.

The Office of National Intelligence has also raised concerns about the increasing prevalence of these ideologies, announcing in late August it would fund two postdoctoral research grants into the radicalisation of young Australians online and the prevention of misogyny in school-aged children and teenagers.

The social media giants themselves have come under fire for the lack of human oversight on their platforms, despite their guidelines forbidding the spread of "beliefs or propaganda that encourage violence or hate".

But it's not all doom and gloom. One of Harrison's schoolmates, Zara Huber, says while the influence of social media shouldn't be underestimated, she believes her generation is more critical than ever.

"What we learn in school is to be aware of what media bias is and also to be aware that the algorithm is a thing and can really push a certain agenda," she says.

"Sometimes you catch yourself thinking, oh, maybe what they said is right, but I think we have the critical thinking skills to double down on that and realise that what we're thinking is very out of context and out of proportion."

And what do young Canberrans do when their friends start espousing misogynistic ideas from TikTok or Instagram?

"I just tell them why they're wrong," Harrison says.

"I ask them why they think that, and when they can't tell me why they think that, I drill into them that they're wrong and that they're dumb for thinking that."

As a "digital native", social media has been part of my life since I was in my early teens. My friends and I used social media every day, when the downsides of the platforms weren't as obvious as they are today.

I started this series terrified of what I was going to discover about young people and the beliefs they had formed from social media.

But instead, I've come away with a new appreciation for Australia's young people, and for the community leaders helping to build their critical thinking skills.

Social media platforms need more government oversight, but we also need to give young people more credit in the way they use the apps.