Published by the Department of Children and Equality, the national strategy for women and girls warns of the perverse effects of the ‘manosphere’ and other social media trends such as ‘tradwife influencers'. The department defines the ‘manosphere’ as “online hate speech and misogyny produced by male influencers who propagate misogynistic views in an online realm". Catherine Baker, a postdoctoral researcher in Dublin City University specialising in gender and media studies, said young social media users are often unwittingly targeted by algorithms with harmful gender-based content. “Policies that target tech companies, or that invest in education and infrastructure for young people, are better suited than reactive social media bans, which lack empirical backing.” The plan warned that this exposure was triggering an increase in sexual violence in the 12-25 age category.