Government will not oppose bill to ban algorithms promoting 'masculinist' mindset to youth

People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said the bill would tackle 'the use of the social media algorithms to drive toxic, self-harm, misogynistic content at young people'

A recommender algorithm is a system that suggests content to users based on their profiles. Picture:iStock

The Government will not oppose proposed legislation to ban “toxic” online recommender algorithms which promote “masculinist” mindsets, eating disorders, and self-harm for young people on social media.

A recommender algorithm is a system that suggests content to users based on their profiles.

People Before Profit (PBP) introduced a new bill in the Dáil to ban video-sharing platforms and social media websites from using recommender systems for users under the age of 18.

It would also ban the recommender algorithms from being automatically turned on for adult users.

PBP TD Paul Murphy said the “very dark side of social media has come into the glare of public attention with the reality that Grok was operating through X as a child sexual abuse image factory”.

He said the bill would tackle “the use of the social media algorithms to drive toxic, self-harm, misogynistic content at young people”.

Extremist content

“There was one study done in DCU which set up 10 blank male-identified accounts of 16- and 18-year-olds on 10 blank smartphones,” he said.

“You go into a shop, you buy a burner smartphone, you set up an account on TikTok or YouTube, and you put in your date of birth, and you say you're a male.

“All of the male-identified accounts were fed masculinist, anti-feminist, and other extremist content within 23 minutes on YouTube.

“All of the accounts that did not seek out ' manosphere' content were fed it within two minutes. By two to three hours of viewing, the vast majority of the content being recommended was toxic — 76% on TikTok, 78% on YouTube Shorts primarily falling into the manosphere category — the most prevalent being Andrew Tate.”

“When you look at what happens if you set up an equivalent account presenting as a young woman, you are fed very, very quickly content promoting eating disorders and promoting self-harm.”

• Louise Burne is the Political Correspondent with the Irish Examiner.