Cat Eccles MP has written to Ofcom Chief Executive, Dame Melanie Dawes, calling on her to do everything in her power to protect men and boys from “manosphere” influencers online, by setting out guidance for platforms to monitor and guard against the specific harms faced by boys and men online.
In November 2025, Ofcom published guidance addressing how platforms can take action against the specific and disproportionate harms affecting women and girls online, a requirement of their statutory duties under the Online Safety Act. Since that guidance came out, a number of organisations, including the Centre for Policy Research on Men and Boys, have called for similar advice on the specific risks men and boys face online. So far, Ofcom has declined, saying the law only requires it to issue guidance on harms affecting women and girls — even though nothing in the legislation actually stops it from addressing risks to men and boys as well, and the two are clearly linked.
As highlighted in the recent documentary by Louis Theroux, Inside the Manosphere, teenage boys are the targets a group of misogynist influencers online, leaving them at disproportionate risk of specific harms including far-right political radicalisation, crypto scams and violent pornography through content by popular creators.
Men and boys encounter harmful content including mis- and dis-information, pornography and misogynist content at a roughly similar rate to women and girls. However, the content targeted at a male audience is likely to be different, and platforms might need to take different steps to understand and tackle the problem.
Meanwhile financial harms appear to be more of a risk among men and boys. According to the Gambling Commission, 53% of 11–17-year-old boys see gambling adverts online each week, compared with 31% of their female peers. Sextortion victims are also much more likely to be male (91% according to the Internet Watch Foundation) and men are slightly more likely to encounter scams and fraud overall.
Cat Eccles MP said:
“Men and boys in Stourbridge, Brierley Hill and Netherton deserve better than the exploitative and harmful extremes peddled to them by the worst parts of the internet.
The government has committed to halving women and girls in this parliament – but we won’t be able to achieve this without tackling the spread of hateful misogynist content online.
For the safety of everyone in our community, Ofcom needs to step up. There’s nothing stopping it from giving clear guidance to platforms to properly deal with harmful content aimed at men and boys – they must do so urgently.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
The full content of the letter is below.
Dear Dame Melanie Dawes
As Members of Parliament, we are gravely concerned about the growing risks individuals, particularly children, face when using a range of online platforms.
In November, we were pleased to see Ofcom fulfil its statutory duty to address to produce guidance addressing how platforms can take action against the specific and disproportionate harms affecting women and girls online. However, we are disappointed to hear that Ofcom has so far refused requests from several organisations to undertake similar guidance on the harms facing boys and men online.
While we understand that Ofcom is not compelled to produce this guidance under the Online Safety Act, we do not believe that the Act precludes Ofcom from undertaking this work.
We therefore urge Ofcom to recognise that there are specific harms that disproportionately affect boys and men online and take action to reduce the incidence of these by recognising the gendered dimension of these challenges. Given there are several types of online content where research shows men and boys are significantly more likely to be at risk, or to face different kinds of risk to women and girls, providing parallel guidance on specific ways platforms can act to reduce the harms facing men and boys would improve overall online safety.
Men and boys appear to be more at risk, in particular, for financial harms. According to the Gambling Commission, 53% of 11–17-year-old boys see gambling adverts online each week, compared with 31% of their female peers. 70% of cryptocurrency owners are male, and organisations working with teenage boys increasingly report this to be an issue among under-18s, with FCA research showing 8% of 13-16-year-olds owning cryptocurrency. Sextortion victims are much more likely to be male (91% according to the Internet Watch Foundation) and men are slightly more likely to encounter scams and fraud overall.
In terms of the harms that are more evenly faced by men and women, we believe a gendered lens would still be useful in understanding the different ways in which harms such as mis- and disinformation, pornography and misogynistic content reach men and women online. This would allow platforms and policymakers to gain a fuller picture of the overall harms facing boys and men online and a clearer understanding of how these can be acted upon in a targeted and effective way.
We are confident that addressing the harms faced by men and boys online will have a significant impact on women’s safety too. The consumption of misogynistic and violent pornographic content online has serious implications for violence against women and, particularly where men are the higher earner within heterosexual partnerships, financial harms carry significant risk for their female family members.
We would therefore like to ask to Ofcom if they will reconsider their decision not to produce guidance on online harms affecting boys and men.
Many thanks for your attention. I look forward to your response.
Yours sincerely,
Afzal Khan, MP for Manchester Rusholme
Alex Ballinger, MP for Halesowen
Alex Sobel, MP for Leeds Central
Alistair Strathern, MP for Hitchin
Allison Gardner, MP for Stoke-on-Trent South
Amanda Hack, MP for North West Leicestershire
Amanda Martin, MP for Portsmouth North
Andrew Ranger, MP for Wrexham
Anna Dixon, MP for Shipley
Bell Ribeiro-Addy, MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill
Ben Coleman, MP for Chelsea and Fulham
Cat Eccles, MP for Stourbridge
Chris Murray, MP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh
Daniel Francis, MP for Bexleyheath and Crayford
Darren Paffey, MP for Southampton Itchen
David Taylor, MP for Hemel Hempstead
Dawn Butler, MP for Brent East
Emily Darlington, MP for Milton Keynes Central
Fleur Anderson, MP for Putney
Graeme Downie, MP for Dumferline and Dollar
Jess Asato, MP for Lowestoft
Jim Dickson, MP for Dartford
Jo Platt, MP for Leigh and Atherton
Jo White, MP for Bassetlaw
John McDonnell, MP for Hayes and Harlington
Josh Dean, MP for Hertford and Stortford
Josh Newbury, MP for Cannock Chase
Julia Buckley, MP for Shrewsbury
Julie Minns, MP for Carlisle
Kate Osborne, MP for Jarrow and Gateshead East
Kenneth Stevenson, MP for Airdrie and Shotts
Kerry McCarthy, MP for Bristol East
Kevin Bonavia, MP for Stevenage
Kevin McKenna, MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey
Kim Leadbeater, MP for Spen Valley
Kirsteen Sullivan, MP for Bathgate and Linlithgow
Laura Kyrke-Smith, MP for Aylesbury
Lauren Sullivan, MP for Gravesham
Leigh Ingham, MP for Stafford
Lloyd Hatton, MP for South Dorset
Luke Charters, MP for York Outer
Martin Rhodes, MP for Glasgow North
Mary Foy, MP for City of Durham
Matt Turmaine, MP for Watford
Michael Wheeler, MP for Wosely and Eccles
Mohammad Yasin, MP for Bedford
Nadia Whittome, MP for Nottingham East
Patricia Ferguson, MP for Glasgow West
Paul Waugh, MP for Rochdale
Paula Barker, MP for Liverpool Wavertree
Peter Lamb, MP for Crawley
Richard Quigley, MP for Isle of Wight West
Sadik Al-Hassan, MP for North Somerset
Sam Rushworth, MP for Bishop Auckland
Sarah Russell, MP for Congleton
Sarah Smith, MP for Hyndburn
Simon Opher, MP for Stroud
Siobhain McDonagh, MP for Mitcham and Morden
Sureena Brackenridge, MP for Wolverhampton North East
Terry Jermy, MP for South West Norfolk
Uma Kumaran, MP for Stratford and Bow
Valerie Vaz, MP for Walsall and Bloxwich
Will Stone, MP for Swindon North
