Into the MAGA-verse: What the algorithm feeds Gen Z

If you'd paid attention to MAGA media in the months leading up to the 2024 election, the surprise wasn't that young voters swung hard toward President Trump. The surprise was that so many people missed it.Why it matters: Gen Z's digital world became a powerful political incubator for the Republican Party in 2024 — a force for persuasion and community-building that reshaped the youth vote in astonishing ways.Seemingly overnight, MAGA took command of a full-fledged social ecosystem that met many young Americans where they already were.It was a cultural and political revolution hiding in plain sight — yet it blindsided the Democratic establishment, which is now scrambling to understand how it happened, and how to fight back.Zoom in: Axios reporters Erica Pandey and Tal Axelrod set out to experience the MAGA-verse online — in real time.We each created new accounts on TikTok — where Gen Z disproportionately gets its news — and followed a basic set of MAGA or MAGA-aligned accounts: Think Team Trump, Tucker Carlson, Charlie Kirk and Candace Owens.TikTok knew that Tal was a 30-year-old man and Erica was a 30-year-old woman. From there, the algorithm took control.At first, we got what we expected: Clips from Trump rallies, viral moments from Kirk's podcasts, and segments from Fox News. Then, our experiences diverged.Tal was fed a steady stream of masculinity content: Endurance athlete David Goggins berating men with motivational speeches, podcaster Chris Williamson interviewing guests about male struggles.Erica's "For You" page zeroed in on three topics: 1) right-wing critiques of modern feminism pulling women away from marriage and motherhood; 2) debates around trans women in sports; and 3) the ethics of abortion.The intrigue: It took less than an hour for the algorithm to move us from standard MAGA content to deeper ideological terrain — podcast clips, campus debates, and "red pill" rants about gender roles and identity.We didn't go looking for this content — it came to us. And it revealed a striking pattern: right-wing views on gender and identity are digitally intertwined with MAGA politics.Dip your toe in, and the algorithm grabs your ankle:Interested in mixed martial arts and the UFC? You might land on a pro-Trump hype reel.Interested in lifestyle content? You might end up with conservative takes on motherhood and marriage.Between the lines: Much of the gender-based content we observed wasn't overtly political or fringe — at least not at first. "A lot of this gets glamorized on social media," says Rachel Janfaza, a youth political analyst and writer of The Up and Up, a newsletter about Gen Z."You see influencers talking about how amazing it is to be a stay-at-home girlfriend or stay-at-home mom and cook and clean.""Trad wife" and "manosphere" videos perform extraordinarily well."It's kind of this vicious cycle where these social media algorithms are naturally going to be favorable towards content that is a little bit more inflammatory and click-worthy," said Ali Mortell, the director of research at Democratic data firm Blue Rose Research."And then on top of that, the political right, not just in the United States, but globally, has really leaned into that shift in the earned media environment in a way" that the left has not, Mortell added.The bottom line: If you're not on social media, this world may seem distant — but it's central to Trump's strength with Gen Z, and a key part of why he's sitting in the White House.

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