Up Next: The Manosphere: YouTube’s Anti-Feminist Communities’ Power to Radicalise and How to Prevent It

Up Next: The Manosphere

Mooghen, Justice Monir

4. term

Techno-Anthropology, Master

2021

69

Den online manosfære rummer fællesskaber, hvor kvindehad, anti-feminisme og andre skadelige ideer kan sprede sig. Den er blevet knyttet til mandesupremacistisk terrorisme, dvs. vold motiveret af troen på, at mænd bør dominere kvinder. I Danmark er der relativt lidt forskning i, hvordan brugere radikaliseres online i manosfæren. Dette speciale undersøger, om YouTubes anbefalingsalgoritme kan skubbe brugere i en anti-feministisk retning, og hvilke forebyggende tiltag der kan iværksættes i Danmark. Analysen bygger på en litteraturgennemgang af YouTubes anbefalingssystem, skrivebordsresearch af forebyggelse af online radikalisering (gennemgang af offentligt tilgængelige materialer) samt to ekspertinterviews i Danmark. Specialet finder, at YouTubes anbefalingsalgoritme kan lede brugere mod indhold med mere ekstreme tendenser, og at algoritmen især synes at anbefale kanaler i manosfæren til brugere, der ser mainstream politisk indhold som CNN, Barack Obama og Bernie Sanders. På den baggrund anbefales det, at lovgivning og relevante myndigheder i Danmark sikrer mulighed for at overvåge, teste og evaluere maskinlæringsalgoritmer, så de kan ændres, når det er nødvendigt. Specialet fremlægger også flere andre forslag og anbefaler opfølgende forskning efter implementering for at følge deres effekter.

The online manosphere consists of communities focused on men’s issues where misogyny, anti-feminism, and other harmful ideas can spread. It has been linked to male-supremacist terrorism, meaning violence motivated by the belief that men should dominate women. In Denmark, there is relatively little research on how users become radicalised online within the manosphere. This thesis examines whether YouTube’s recommendation algorithm can nudge users toward anti-feminist content and explores preventive measures that could be taken in Denmark. The analysis draws on a review of studies about YouTube’s recommendation system, desk research on prevention of online radicalisation (review of publicly available materials), and two expert interviews conducted in Denmark. Findings indicate that YouTube’s recommendation algorithm can guide users toward content with more extremist tendencies, and that it especially tends to suggest manosphere channels to viewers of mainstream political content such as CNN, Barack Obama, and Bernie Sanders. Based on this, the thesis recommends that Danish legislation and public bodies ensure the ability to monitor, test, and evaluate machine-learning algorithms so they can be adjusted when needed. It also presents several other suggestions and calls for follow-up research after implementation to track their effects.

[This summary has been rewritten with the help of AI based on the project's original abstract]

algoritme ; YouTube ; radikalisering ; manosfæren ; manosphere ; radicalisation ; terrorism ; terror ; algorithm ; machine learning algorithms ; feminism ; feminist ; digital kultur ; digital culture ; online

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