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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Politics
Melissa Davey Medical editor

‘Manosphere’ influencers pushing testosterone tests are convincing healthy young men there is something wrong with them, study finds

A man holds a supply of his testosterone medication
Researchers analysed 46 high-impact posts about low testosterone and testing made by TikTok and Instagram accounts with a combined following of more than 6.8 million. Photograph: The Washington Post/Getty Images

“If you’re not waking up in the morning with a boner, there’s a large possibility that you have low testosterone levels,” an influencer on TikTok with more than 100,000 followers warns his viewers.

Despite screening for low testosterone being medically unwarranted in most young men, this group is being aggressively targeted online by influencers and wellness companies promoting hormone tests and treatments as essential to being a “real man”, a study published in the journal Social Science and Medicine has found.

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