How Social Media Can Radicalise Young Men into Incel Ideologies
The internet has transformed how individuals encounter different ideas. Social media platforms personalise content through algorithmic recommendation systems that curate material based on user engagement. While this personalisation enhances relevance, it also creates ideological echo chambers in which users are repeatedly exposed to similar viewpoints. Prolonged immersion in such environments may limit exposure to alternative perspectives, reinforcing beliefs without critical scrutiny. That dynamic has played a major role in the growth of online spaces known as the manosphere, where some young men are being drawn into increasingly extreme anti-feminist beliefs.
The manosphere is a loose network of online spaces built around grievances about masculinity, dating, and gender politics. Some corners focus on self-improvement or men’s issues. Others veer into resentment and misogyny. One of the most well-known groups within this world is the incel community, short for “involuntary celibate.” Incels are typically men who feel shut out of dating and sex, but instead of seeing this as personal circumstance or social difficulty, many frame it as proof the system is rigged against them. In this worldview, contemporary gender equality has disrupted traditional sexual and social hierarchies. Expanded opportunities and autonomy for women are framed not as social progress but as a system that unfairly disadvantages men. Incels argue that women possess excessive choice in modern dating markets, leaving certain men “left behind” and condemned to permanent romantic exclusion. That sense of personal rejection can turn into a political grievance.
Part of what makes incel ideology powerful is that it offers easy answers to painful feelings. These communities often present the world as a brutal hierarchy where attractive men, “Chads,” get everything, desirable women, “Stacys,” control access to sex and status, and everyone else is ranked below them. It’s a bleak worldview, and deeply fatalistic. Success in love is treated as predetermined, not something shaped by confidence, social skills, luck, or growth. For someone struggling, that explanation can feel strangely comforting. It turns personal pain into a system to blame.
A big part of manosphere culture revolves around the idea of taking the Red Pill, borrowed from a popular sci-fi film, The Matrix. In these spaces, “taking the red pill” is a metaphor for framing adherence to anti-feminist ideology as enlightenment, a supposed recognition of feminism’s alleged manipulation of social norms whereas the blue pill signifies continued ignorant bliss. Anyone who disagrees with the Red Pill is dismissed as naïve. This kind of framing is powerful as it makes the ideology feel like secret knowledge only known by a certain group of people, creating a sense of identity and belonging.
What makes this especially concerning is that people don’t usually go online searching for incel ideology. It is the algorithms that pull people in. They might start with something much more ordinary like dating advice, gym motivation or even men’s mental health content. But on engagement-driven platforms like TikTok or YouTube Shorts, those topics can quickly lead somewhere darker. A study conducted at Dublin City University reveals that after watching a few videos about breakups, masculinity, or discipline, the feed slowly starts recommending anti-feminist creators, grievance-driven dating commentary, or manosphere influencers. Algorithms reward content that provokes emotion, outrage, insecurity and anger, because it keeps people watching. The study has further shown simulated teenage male accounts being pushed toward anti-feminist and manosphere content within minutes, even without actively searching for it. This is part of why online figures like Andrew Tate have had such reach. His appeal starts with aspiring “masculine” traits such as wealth, discipline, strength and confidence. For boys dealing with bullying, isolation, or feeling powerless, that can be magnetic. The problem critics point to is that this motivational content often comes bundled with disdain for women, hostility toward empathy, and rigid ideas about domination and status. Self-help becomes indirect ideological packaging.
However, most people exposed to this content will not become violent. Despite media panic, most self-identified incels are not attackers. Many are socially isolated, depressed, or withdrawn rather than outwardly aggressive. Scholars propose the “Male Sedation Hypothesis,” suggesting that online environments may partially suppress real-world aggression among socially isolated men. Digital substitutes such as video games and pornography may provide what evolutionary psychologists describe as “counterfeit fitness cues,” simulating achievement or sexual fulfilment at relatively low psychological cost. These experiences may reduce motivation for risky real-world competition, potentially explaining why rising rates of sexlessness have not been accompanied by proportional increases in violence. Still, online misogyny has, in some cases, spilled into real world violence.
The 2014 murders committed by Elliot Rodger brought global attention to the possible link between online incel culture and extremist violence. His case raised difficult questions about what happens when grievance communities normalise hatred. Even when violence doesn’t occur, these spaces can still be harmful. Some content frames therapy as weakness, some discourages relationships and some reinforces hopelessness. For vulnerable users, that can deepen distress rather than relieve it. It’s easy to treat this as simply a problem of dangerous influencers or toxic forums. But these ideologies grow when there is loneliness, confusion, economic stress, and unmet emotional needs. Many young men entering these spaces are looking for belonging before they are looking for ideology. That matters because if the problem starts with alienation, content moderation alone won’t solve it. Incel ideology often succeeds as it transforms insecurity into certainty by turning confusion into a worldview. The manosphere offers community for vulnerable young men, even if that community feeds despair. That can be hard to walk away from.
Understanding incel ideology therefore requires moving beyond moral panic toward a nuanced analysis of technological design, psychological vulnerability, and cultural narratives surrounding masculinity. The challenge is addressing harmful content and confronting the social conditions like loneliness, identity uncertainty, and unmet mental-health needs, which make such radical ideologies compelling in the first place. Because the real story isn’t just how social media radicalises young men. It’s why those messages find an audience at all.
Sources Used:
Cherrington, E. (2024). It is simply not good enough: Women’s experiences with extreme misogyny, incel culture, and online safety. Lancaster University. https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/law/blog/it-is-simply-not-good-enough-womens-experiences-with-extreme-misogyny-incel-culture-and-online-safety
Costello, W., & Buss, D. M. (2023). Why isn’t There More Incel Violence? Adaptive Human Behaviour and Physiology, 9. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40750-023-00220-3
Emezue, C. (2023, April 9). The Danger of Incels—and How We Shift the Thinking of Men Attracted to These Groups. Ms. Magazine. https://msmagazine.com/2023/04/09/incel-violence-women-misogyny-white-supremacy-online/
Ging, D., Baker, C., & Andreasen, M. (2024). TikTok and YouTube Shorts are bombarding users with misogynist content. Dublin City University. https://www.dcu.ie/humanities-and-social-sciences/news/2024/apr/new-research-shows-how-tiktok-and-youtube-shorts-are
Schoen Clinic UK. (2025, April). What is an Incel? Understanding Incel Culture, Misogyny & Mental Health. Schoen Clinic UK. https://www.schoen-clinic.co.uk/post/incel-culture-masculinity-and-toxic-ideologies
Sparks, B., Zidenberg, A. M., & Olver, M. E. (2022). Involuntary Celibacy: a Review of Incel Ideology and Experiences with Dating, Rejection, and Associated Mental Health and Emotional Sequelae. Current Psychiatry Reports, 24(12), 731–740. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-022-01382-9