{"id":43091,"date":"2026-08-10T05:06:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T03:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kaizen-blog.org\/?p=43091"},"modified":"2026-08-10T05:06:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T03:06:34","slug":"die-wut-junger-maenner-ist-ein-milliardengeschaeft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kaizen-blog.org\/en\/die-wut-junger-maenner-ist-ein-milliardengeschaeft\/","title":{"rendered":"The Anger of Young Men Is a Billion-Dollar Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

For years, one troubling question has been hanging over parents and teachers, newsrooms and the internet: What is going on with young men? Why are so many of them embracing harsh political views and talking about women with contempt? Risky crypto bets and online gambling pull them in, while at the same time they are becoming increasingly isolated and their symptoms of depression often go unnoticed. In the 2024 presidential election, young men broke for Trump after Republicans courted them with a loudly exaggerated image of masculinity. His second term has done little to change their anger, and their support for the president is now visibly crumbling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The easiest explanation is that younger men have gathered online under the umbrella of the so-called manosphere, usually understood as an organically grown right-wing rebellion in today's culture wars. A new study reaches a different conclusion. The digital ecosystem producing so-called \"red-pilled\" men looks less like a political movement than a pyramid scheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In their report \"The Grift Economy: How Young Men Are Being Sold Fake Belonging and Fake Wealth Online,\" researchers from the digital safety organization Reset Tech and the nonprofit Equimundo show how algorithms funnel men into paid communities, unregulated supplements, crypto schemes, and outrageously expensive coaching programs. Taken together, they amount to a multibillion-dollar industry. Masculinity, the authors of the 153-page report write, has become a commodity, created and cultivated online so money can be made from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It rarely starts with anything threatening. Someone looking for dating advice or investment tips, or simply trying to get fitter, comes across seemingly harmless self-improvement content. Only then do shady operators seize on that insecurity and offer a warped explanation built out of frustration and enemies, often through verified business accounts on X that use real economic data and twist it into the false claim that high youth unemployment affects men alone. Documented economic anxiety is turned into anger at clearly identified groups, at women and at people portrayed as immigrants or foreign workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once men begin to feel that they belong to a community united by resentment and supposed betrayal, the same people start selling them the supposed cure. Sometimes it is a course or admission to an exclusive circle, sometimes a substance from the legal gray market. In the case of misogynistic influencer Andrew Tate, the researchers estimate that his paid \"Real World\" education platform alone generates $184 million in gross annual revenue; membership costs $99 a month. Reset Tech and Equimundo call systems like these fraud on a massive scale, built on recycled material and affiliate pyramids, deliberately difficult cancellation procedures and polished testimonials. Tate's attorney initially did not comment. Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan are fighting extradition to the United Kingdom, where they face allegations of rape and human trafficking for sexual exploitation; their attorney says they are innocent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n