Get the latest tech news

'It stains your brain': How social media algorithms show violence to boys


An insider tells the BBC why teenage boys are being targeted with extreme content.

When Andrew looked at the TikTok content, he was alarmed to find how some teenage boys were being shown posts featuring violence and pornography, and promoting misogynistic views, he tells BBC Panorama. And with calls for smartphones to be banned for children, Marianna Spring speaks to parents, teenagers and social media company insiders to investigate whether the content pushed to their feeds is harming them. In the UK, a new law will force social media firms to verify children’s ages and stop the sites recommending porn or other harmful content to young people.

Get the Android app

Or read this on BBC News

Read more on:

Photo of brain

brain

Photo of violence

violence

Photo of boys

boys

Related news:

News photo

Finding love: Study reveals where love lives in the brain

News photo

Helen Fisher, who researched the brain’s love circuitry, has died

News photo

Irish far right openly discussing violence against immigrants on social media