At 16 years old, Josh Sargent has experienced a side of the internet that many parents only view with quiet dread. He has pulled himself out from the depths of the ‘manosphere’ – a sprawling online ecosystem of hyper-masculine and anti-feminist content.
Once a consumer of this content, Sargent is now a prominent public voice on the manosphere, social media and digital de-radicalisation.
But as policymakers increasingly view blanket bans as the silver bullet for protecting young minds, Sargent warns that a heavy-handed prohibition misses the mark entirely.
In the clip below, Sargent called the ban “a desperate grasp of Starmer to establish a legacy before he’s booted out of the door”.
Despite only saying these words a few days ago, his prediction has already rung true – Keir Starmer has resigned as the UK’s prime minister.
Trigger warning: this clip contains swearing:
Here Sargent explains his theory about the success of the manosphere overall, and what it says about the status quo for young men:
Rather than locking teenagers out of the digital world, Sargent advocates for far stronger measures by the UK government and the international community as a whole.
These should come in the form of large fines and international collaboration between nation states to curtail things like the algorithmic targeting, echo chambers and platforming harmful and controversial influencers.
Sargent said: “They don’t have to be doing these things, they are doing so with the motivation of profit.”
When talking about social media sites, Sargent said: “The first word now has eroded. These are media sites. You know it’s not social media per se anymore.”
In a longer interview, Sargent offered his thoughts not only on the proposed social media ban, but also on the manosphere overall and the state of modern masculinity.
Click here for the full interview.
A spokesperson for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said: “Parents want to keep their kids safe and happy, but the online world has made that harder than ever.
“By announcing a social media ban for under 16s we’ve taken a bold step to protect future generations.
“This will include restricting harmful features like livestreaming and stranger communication across platforms including gaming, and requiring highly effective age assurance that is tougher than anywhere else in the world.”
Featured image credit: Elsa Nightingale
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