Safer Scrolling: How Algorithms Popularise and Gamify Online Hate and Misogyny for Young People
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Safer Scrolling reports findings from a UCL/University of Kent study, led by Kaitlyn Regehr and conducted with the Association of School and College Leaders, on how TikTok's recommender system exposes teenage boys to misogynistic content. Researchers built four archetype accounts reflecting common teen vulnerabilities (loneliness, neurodiversity, dating-advice interest, and general disaffection) and tracked their 'For You' feeds over seven days, finding misogynistic content rose roughly fourfold within five days of use. Interviews with young people and roundtables with 25 school leaders linked this pattern to normalized sexist language in classrooms and, for a subset of vulnerable boys, to broader incel-community indicators the report associates with depression, isolation and, in some cases, self-harm and violence risk. The report calls for algorithmic accountability and 'healthy digital diet' education rather than outright bans. TechKids Foundation includes it as association-level evidence about algorithm design and youth misogyny exposure.
Across four TikTok archetype accounts, the share of recommended videos coded as misogynistic rose from 13% to 56% after five days of continuous use — a roughly fourfold increase.
Researchers coded more than 1,000 TikTok videos surfaced to four archetype accounts, each run for seven continuous days, to trace how recommended content shifted over time.
An expert roundtable held with the Association of School and College Leaders brought together 25 senior school leaders to discuss how the online patterns the study documented were showing up in classrooms.
Regehr, Kaitlyn, Caitlin Shaughnessy, Minzhu Zhao, and Nicola Shaughnessy. "Safer Scrolling: How Algorithms Popularise and Gamify Online Hate and Misogyny for Young People." University College London and University of Kent, in partnership with the Association of School and College Leaders, January 2024.