
Oneitiscel
Failed Jestermaxxx LDAR Extraordinaire
★
- Joined
- Nov 13, 2018
- Posts
- 5,029

Toxic 'incel' social media accounts change language to avoid detection
Online advocates of misogynistic incel (involuntarily celibate) culture are rebranding as 'Sub5s' to get past the platform's ban on hateful material.
Accounts promoting toxic 'incel' ideology are changing the language they use to push their content on TikTok, a study shows.
Online advocates of misogynistic incel (involuntarily celibate) culture are rebranding as 'Sub5s' to get past the platform's ban on hateful material.
It is believed that such accounts are also using self-improvement language in order to appear more palatable in the eyes of content moderators.
'Mainstream platforms like TikTok have stricter moderation policies but are not immune to incel influence,' writes the study's lead author Anda Solea of the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice Studies at the University of Portsmouth.
'To avoid detection, the research reveals that, on TikTok, incel ideology takes a much subtler form, using emotional appeals and pseudo-science to share extremist views.
'Covert language and terminology are used on TikTok—in contrast to incel content observed on secluded incel spaces.'
Another idea promoted by accounts on TikTok is the PSL scale, under which it is claimed that men can be ranked from one to eight according to attractiveness..
The PSL acronym comes from the first letters of three incel sites: PUAhate, Sluthate and Lookism.net.
The scale rates men from being 'PSL gods' (very attractive men) to 'Chads' (averagely attractive men) and finally 'Sub5s' (unattractive men).
The Guardian reported that when searching for the term 'incel' on TikTok, a content warning appears about the phrase's association with hateful behaviour.
But upon searching for 'Sub5' content, users face no such popups or warnings.
'We argue that, facilitated by its rebranding through the frameworks of looksmaxxing [the process of making oneself more attractive] and the PSL scale, misogynist incel ideology is being mainstreamed', write Solea and co-author Dr Lisa Sugiura.
'These mechanisms reframe overtly toxic, misogynistic and extremist rhetoric into socially palatable discourses of self-improvement and biological and racial essentialism, enabling its diffusion into broader digital spaces.'
'What they try to do is to attract wider audiences and also to be permitted on the platform and accepted by others through rebranding,' Solea said.
'So you'll see Sub5s, you'll see the PSL scale, and then also they are being less directly offensive and violent towards women.'
