Newsbeat gathered five young men – the target audience for the manosphere creators – who’d watched the Theroux documentary to get their reaction to it.
Reece Hunt and Thaua Oliviera De Lima, both 21, say they were familiar with the influencers seen in the film thanks to their algorithms, but had mainly seen their more light-hearted content.
Reece says he’d always found it “quite funny”, but the behind-the-scenes moments captured by Theroux revealed a “new aspect” to those posting the material.
Thaua says he’d previously thought the content was “jokes”, but the film made him think those posting it were “quite bad people”.
He says the creators are being “controversial on purpose” to generate more views, making him think it’s “all a scheme” to make money.
Other panellists said they’d noticed the influence of manosphere content on their own friend groups.
Zeesham Khan, 23, said he and his younger brother both knew people who had radically changed their mindsets after engaging with it.
“I know people who have lost friends because those friends believe: ‘If you’re not rich, I shouldn’t be hanging around with you.
“I’m trying to get rich, I’m trying to go off to Dubai, I’ve got to cut you off’.”
Student Kenan says he’s looked at some of the courses many influencers sell and has not invested himself, but understands why others might.
“A lot of people, when you get to your 20s, they feel like they’re running out of time to make a move, to be rich, so they invest in these courses,” says the 20-year-old.
“You can’t just go to one of these influencers and buy one of their courses thinking that life’s gonna be so much easier after that.
“They’re the only ones profiting off that.”
