How TikTok, YouTube, and AI Are Quietly Reshaping Gender in Indonesian Journalism
Nobody voted for TikTok’s algorithm. Nobody elected it to reshape how millions of people think about gender. And yet, quietly and at extraordinary speed, that is exactly what it may be doing.
A landmark perspective article by Dr. Alem Febri Sonni of Universitas Hasanuddin, published in Frontiers in Human Dynamics, draws on five years of data from Indonesian media to argue something provocative: platform algorithms are not neutral pipes that carry content from producers to audiences. They are active cultural agents that decide which versions of masculinity, and by extension, which visions of society, receive visibility, engagement, and amplification.
A 55-Point Shift in Five Years
Between 2019 and 2024, traditional masculine representations in Indonesian media, the tough, competitive, emotionally closed-off man, collapsed from 85% to just 30% of all content analyzed across 240 hours of television and 1,100 digital media items. That is a 55-percentage-point drop in half a decade. At the same time, emotional content on TikTok generates 380,000 interactions compared to only 180,000 for traditional masculine content, a staggering 111% difference. The platform you watch on is no longer just a screen. It is a filter that determines which version of gender reality reaches you.
Business Models Shape What Gets Seen
The study reveals a crucial insight that is rarely discussed: the divergence between platforms is not just technical, it is economic. TikTok’s algorithm is optimized to maximize engagement, which means emotionally expressive content wins regardless of whether it fits traditional norms. Indonesian television, meanwhile, operates under regulatory oversight that enforces cultural conservatism. The result? Television still shows 65% traditional masculine representations. TikTok shows only 13%. Same country. Profoundly different worlds. And it is the algorithm, not editors, not viewers, not society, quietly deciding which world gets amplified.
This research connects directly to Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being, which calls for promoting mental health, reducing harmful social norms, and fostering well-being for all people at all ages. Rigid, traditional constructions of masculinity, the kind that tell men they must be tough, stoic, competitive, and never vulnerable, are directly linked to mental health crises, higher rates of depression, social isolation, and violence. When digital platforms algorithmically amplify emotional and expressive masculinities, they are not just changing media; they may be softening one of the most damaging cultural pressures men face. However, the same algorithms that accidentally promote healthier representations can also amplify harmful content if left ungoverned. This research argues that understanding and governing these systems is, fundamentally, a public health and well-being imperative.
Algorithms were not designed to be gender reformers. But in Indonesia, and likely everywhere else, they are becoming exactly that. Whether this transformation serves human well-being depends entirely on whether we choose to understand, govern, and humanize the systems shaping our cultural reality.
Article Metadata
Article Title : Algorithmic Gender Representation in Digital Journalism: A Perspective on Platform-Mediated Masculinities in Indonesian Media
Journal Name : Frontiers in Human Dynamics
Publisher : Frontiers Media SA (Published under CC BY 4.0 Open Access)
Published Date : December 10, 2025 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fhumd.2025.1735924
Author : Alem Febri Sonni — Universitas Hasanuddin, Makassar, Indonesia
