Earlier this year, Sheryl Sandberg pledged to take on an emerging problem she saw in society: tradwives and the manosphere. Especially, the rising popularity of both kinds of “very dangerous” content which she says is made up of “old ideas” repackaged to seem “new and fresh.”
Today her organization Lean In is following through on that mission with research. Via a survey conducted in May, the organization devoted to advancing women at work found that nine in 10 Americans have viewed tradwife or manosphere content online—content that glamorizes traditional gender roles, a woman’s role as homemaker, and the man as the alpha and the ultimate decision-maker. Men who consume that kind of content are more than three times more likely to agree with statements like: men are better suited for leadership, women are too emotional for leadership roles, and women should prioritize family over paid work.
This is important research that sheds new light on how this content can lead to real-world, offline harm. To me, it leads to an obvious question: What responsibility do social media platforms have to stop the spread of this kind of content?
Of course, Sandberg is the former COO of Meta who spent more than a decade at the nucleus of Facebook and Instagram, making decisions that influenced how these platforms developed. It’s been four years since she left that role and two since she fully stepped down from Meta’s board of directors.
“I think everyone has a responsibility,” she told me yesterday when I asked about the responsibility social media platforms have to stop spreading this kind of content. “Companies have a responsibility on their platforms, leaders have a responsibility within their companies.”
“What’s changed is not the form of communication people have used,” she argues. “Everything people are using today [except AI], they were using 10 years ago. The question is, what content are people consuming, what are people believing, and what are we accepting as a society?”
But one data point from Lean In’s new research is especially revealing about the impact of social media platforms on the spread of these beliefs. Even men who say they don’t like trad content, but nevertheless frequently view it, are twice as likely to agree with retrograde statements about women.
And why would a man who doesn’t like trad content be watching it? Social media platforms have evolved from ones designed for you to see content posted by friends, family, and brands or organizations you choose to follow to interest-based algorithms that direct you to content they think you’ll like (like TikTok or Instagram Reels). That is different from 10 years ago.
Lean In is focused on how this content is impacting the real-world workplace. Women who hear “manosphere-coded comments” in the office are four times more likely to be told they’re not seen as a leader, its survey found. And the organization urges individuals to take action – to pay attention to what boys are watching online, share this data with men, and call out sexist statements when they are said.
“We all feel that something has changed,” Sandberg told me. She’s right. A lot has – politically, culturally, at work, in the online worlds we all inhabit, and the algorithms behind them.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune’s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world.
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