What is a pipeline?

Millions of teenagers flock to social media sites every day seeking entertainment, socialization and validation. However, influencers frequently prey on that validation that many seek online to promote and spread their own bigoted ideas. What can start as just one post that someone finds relatable can toss them down a rabbit hole of extreme ideas and negativity – eventually leading to xenophobic, misogynistic and highly controversial content. These rabbit holes, often called ‘pipelines,’ start with relatable ideas, things that most people would resonate with, and use the trust they get from those posts to slowly convert their followers to bigoted, alt-right beliefs.
“[There are] things that people are starving and dying to hear,” said Joey Mintz, Urban’s school counselor. “If the wrong person starts saying those things to you, you could find yourself getting swept along into a group of people that doesn’t actually resonate with who you are in your heart.”
These pipelines typically target those who are insecure and in search of validation, giving these influencers cult-like followings of vulnerable young men.
“[The pipelines] can get to anybody who’s struggling right around like self-esteem, confidence, belonging, connection, all of that,” said Amina Samake, Urban’s school counselor and director of counseling services. “I liken it a little bit to a cult leader… like joining a gang… some way of getting their power back.”

Andrew Tate
Andrew Tate draws his audience in with posts that validate common feelings of insecurity, insufficiency and loneliness. He uses the trust gained from those posts to transition his audience into believing extreme ideas. In contrast to this lens of mental health, he has stated to his struggling followers that “depression isn’t real.” Many of his ideas are sexist, violent, and abusive. “Bang out the machete, grip her by the neck… shut up b—-,” said Tate, adding that each woman should be “a man’s property”. Tate offers payouts for reposts of his content, ensuring that even if one account supporting him is banned, many more will continue to spread his content. This self-proclaimed misogynist’s ideas have led to his main TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram accounts being banned, all having millions of followers. On December 29, 2022, Tate was arrested in Romania for rape and human trafficking.

Ben Shapiro
Ben Shapiro is a far-right American former attorney, commentator, businessman and columnist. Shapiro entices his audience using a combination of diverting blame, logical fallacies and aggressive debate tactics in order to gain trust, credibility and a reputation for being academic and intelligent. Then, he pushes misinformation and bigoted ideas onto the audience he gained in order to shift them towards more extreme ideas. He famously coined the phrase “facts over feelings” as a way of attacking liberal communities and promoting a single-sided approach to politics. His anti-abortion, pro-gun, anti-vaccine mandate, homophobic and transphobic ideas have spread quickly throughout the right, bringing him fame and repertoire.

Jordan Peterson
Jordan Peterson is a former clinical psychologist and author who has become a conservative public figure. Describing himself as a “traditionalist,” Peterson promotes transphobic ideas and believes that the patriarchy is beneficial to all. Using his professional status, Peterson discusses important men’s mental health topics such as validation, loneliness and depression. However, these conversations are often coupled with misogynistic, transphobic and homophobic ideas – saying, “the idea that women were oppressed throughout history is an appalling theory,” and that he “[doesn’t] recognize another person’s right to determine what pronouns [he uses] to address them.” He continues to promote these controversial ideas even as he admits that his “life is falling apart,” calling anybody who questions his opinions unintelligent and disgraceful.

How They Grow/How to stop it?
One of the biggest dangers of pipelines is how quickly and easily they spread. Social media often promotes negativity and controversial content since it provides the sites with increased user engagement, which leads to more ad revenue. Because of this, social media constantly feeds the negative and radical content found in these creators’ content to wider and wider audiences.
“Just because I watched gaming and sports content, even from progressive creators, [YouTube] gave me misogynistic content,” said Theo Nielsen ‘24. While many people like Nielsen are able to recognize the hateful nature of this content, many other users click on a video completely unaware of how damaging consuming this content can be.
Often, these rabbit holes feed on young men going through challenges with their mental health. “You have young people that are hurting, young men, for example, and they want an answer,” said Mintz.
Many of these creators start by discussing how underrepresented young men are, a message that resonates with many teenagers and young adults online. However, instead of finding a real solution, these alt-right influencers victimize young men and pose women and the LGBTQ+ community as the problem.
“Depression and other mental health [issues] can be incredibly isolating, especially if you don’t have a community,” said Samake. However, hate-filled online groups are not a healthy solution for feelings of insecurity and sadness, no matter how good it may feel to name an enemy as a cause for all of one’s issues. These ideas can be especially impactful on a younger, more impressionable audience.
“When I was in sixth grade, I almost fell down a conservative pipeline… so I’m worried whenever I see Andrew Tate… I’m worried for gen alpha,” said Matthew Kuglen ‘24.
“TikTok and social media in general [are] like the world on steroids,” said Mintz. “There’s so much and so little at the same time.”
While not all groups are misogynistic or xenophobic, other pipelines can act as an echo chamber for hateful ideas. For example, ‘depression slideshows’, which are compilations of suicidal and depressive memes, have become increasingly popular online.
“I was looking at the comments and it was like, ‘I’m writing my letter today,’ like ‘I’m gonna do this now.’ And I was like, Jesus… it’s terrifying,” said Samake. “It can be so hard to see what help may be available when you’re feeling down, depressed, angry, sad or traumatized and that gets exacerbated when everything you read speaks to the same issues you’re feeling.”
The best way to prevent the spread of these ideas is to seek help in a healthy environment. Urban is privileged to have two very skilled counselors on campus who are both willing to listen. While online pipelines can feel comforting and can promote simple solutions to problems, real solutions can only be found by talking to someone in real life.
“Connecting with people in real life is key,” said Samake. “Human connection is really important.”