Misogynistic online content going unchecked, warns Gannon

Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon has said that young men’s attitudes towards rape and sexual violence have deteriorated as a result of “unchecked” misogynistic online content.

The Dublin Central TD was speaking following a survey from the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, which found that almost half of young men believe there are ‘a lot’ of false rape allegations, along with what the organisation calls a “rise in other dangerous beliefs regarding women and sexual violence.”

The Soc Dems justice spokesperson said, “as a society, we are taking massive steps backwards with regard to attitudes we spent decades trying to change, and that should terrify us.”

Gannon placed the blame at the feet of social media platforms, stating, “young men are being fed content by algorithms that actively push influencers peddling misogyny and warped ideas about women and sexual violence.”

“Just look at the examples at the very top: there are world leaders found guilty of rape who are welcomed with open arms in the online space and treated as though their crimes are not consequential. That message filters down, especially to our most impressionable,” he said.

Gannnon said that a “radically different” approach is needed to change attitudes of younger men.

“Whatever we are doing clearly isn’t reaching enough young men. We need to understand where they’re getting these ideas, get into those spaces, and challenge them before they become entrenched,” he said.

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Gannon said that “the result of these attitudes is women and girls believing that they won’t be believed, that they as victims will be blamed for what happened to them, and deciding there is therefore no point reporting it.”

He said that the government parties are not doing enough to prevent “toxicity” from reaching our people.

He specifically criticised the government’s inaction on recommender algorithms, which Gannon says are delivering “harmful stereotypes” to children and teenagers, and that government inaction on the issue is “allowing this dangerous influence to take hold.”

“We cannot let this deluge of malignant influence wash away our humanity, our values. The government must take immediate and substantial action to prevent misogynistic content from reaching our young people, and work to reverse the damage it has already done where it has taken hold,” he said.

Gannon’s comments follow similar complaints by Labour TD and chair of the Oireachtas’ media committee, Alan Kelly. 

The Labour TD said he was “dismayed” by correspondence from social media companies to the Gardaí following content uploaded to platforms regarding dangerous driving.

Facebook and TikTok have come under fire in recent months for their seeming apathy towards content moderation.

Kelly said, “let’s be perfectly clear: we are talking about companies with extremely sophisticated algorithms globally. It doesn’t wash that systems are not in place to prevent the uploading of such harmful content to platforms in the first instance.”

“It should not be possible for any person or child in this country to see this content or to engage with this content,” he said of dangerous driving content that is uploaded to social media.

Kelly said, “I am deeply concerned at the lack of attention this is receiving from these platforms. They have a duty to ensure this type of content is not hosted across platforms. It is too dangerous, and the consequences are too grave.”