Social Media’s Toxic Mix: Wokeism, Sensationalism & Hinduphobia

The case of Indian social media influencer Ranveer Allahbadia, who made obscene jokes about a contestant’s parents on an Indian television show, is symptomatic of the degenerate culture propagated by social media and its disturbing effects on Youth.
Social media algorithms deliberately promote sensational and objectional content, and viral content hinges on such content.
Social media platforms give space to content glorifying self-harm and abuse and also fuel online prostitution.
Social media is destroying the Dharmic ecosystem of Indian culture, leading the Youth towards casual Hinduphobia.
Social media is deeply impacted by the rising influence of wokeism, which exploits the insecurities and vulnerabilities of young people by cultivating the archetypal – “victim-rebel” mindset.
Social media companies must be made legally accountable for the content hosted on their platforms.

Social media, with its propensity for viralism, often amplifies trivial and mediocre content to extraordinary levels, creating endless cycles of reproduction. This phenomenon can result in the widespread dissemination of subversive or degrading material, influencing public perception and social discourse in ways that are not always constructive.

The rapid spread of such content can significantly impact the collective psyche, shaping societal norms and values. However, when content breaches a society’s ethical boundaries, a backlash is often inevitable. This reaction from concerned citizens and authorities serves as a corrective mechanism, ensuring accountability for those responsible.

A recent example of this dynamic unfolded in India with popular social media influencer Ranveer Allahbadia, also known as Beer Biceps. Allahbadia, widely recognized for his insightful interviews with distinguished personalities—including India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and several proponents of Hindu philosophy—found himself at the center of controversy when a video from a recent episode of the reality show India’s Got Latent featuring him resurfaced online.

In the clip, Allahbadia was seen making an obscene joke at the expense of a contestant’s parents. He posed a highly inappropriate question: “Would you rather watch your parents have sex every day or join them once to put an end to it?”[1]

The backlash was swift and severe. Multiple complaints were filed against Allahbadia, prompting reactions from high-profile leaders such as Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. [2]

The controversy eventually reached India’s Supreme Court, where Allahbadia sought relief from the legal proceedings initiated against him. While the court granted him protection from arrest, it did not absolve him of responsibility. The judges strongly condemned his remarks, asserting that his words reflected a deeply inappropriate mindset. The court described his comments as “very dirty” and reprimanded him for his conduct on national television. As part of the ruling, Allahbadia was prohibited from airing further content on YouTube and was instructed to surrender his passport, restricting his travel without prior approval.[3]

This incident underscores a broader issue—Hindu society’s declining moral and ethical values, exacerbated by social media’s pervasive influence. Family remains the bedrock of Hindu culture; within this structure, parents are revered as figures of divine significance. Hindu epics contain numerous narratives highlighting the sacred bond between children and their parents. For instance, the tale of Shravan Kumar epitomizes filial devotion; he is celebrated for carrying his blind parents on a pilgrimage, a testament to his unwavering respect and love for them. Given this cultural backdrop, Allahbadia’s inappropriate remarks were not merely offensive but deeply antithetical to the values upheld by millions.

Beyond this specific case, the controversy surrounding Allahbadia highlights a larger crisis—how social media erodes traditional values and shapes youth culture in troubling ways. A closer examination of social media trends reveals that his controversial remarks are merely the tip of the iceberg. Platforms thrive on sensational, provocative, and often vulgar content, pulling young audiences into a cycle of negativity and toxicity.

The unchecked proliferation of such content has far-reaching consequences. Many young people are exposed to harmful material that normalizes mental and physical abuse. Disturbingly, there has also been a rise in content that glorifies self-harm and suicide, further contributing to the mental health crisis among the Youth. This phenomenon is not limited to Hindu society alone—it is a global issue. The breakdown of family and community structures, facilitated by toxic social media trends, is leaving young individuals isolated and uncertain about their identities and futures.

The influence of social media on youth culture is a complex and evolving issue that warrants deeper exploration. In the following sections, we will delve into various aspects of this phenomenon, examining how digital platforms shape behavior, ethics, and societal norms in the modern world.

The Viral Trap: How Social Media Shapes Teen Behavior

The latest Pew Research Center survey on the use of social media by teenagers in the US found that social media platforms like TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram remain widely used among teens, with some teenagers confessing to being on these sites constantly. According to the survey, YouTube tops the list of online platforms used most by teens, with nine in ten US teenagers reporting using the site. TikTok and Instagram are used by roughly six in ten teens, and Snapchat is used by roughly 55 percent of US teenagers, according to the survey.[4]

Most importantly, the report highlighted that teenagers use these social media platforms frequently. Over 73 percent of teens admitted to surfing YouTube daily, while six in ten teenagers visited TikTok Daily, where 16 percent of users described their use as “almost constant.”[5]

The study thus raises important questions about addiction fueled by social media. All age groups are vulnerable to social media addiction, but young people are even more so because of the phase of life they are in. There has also been considerable research on the topic of selfie addiction in Youth and how the phenomenon wreaks havoc with their self-esteem and mental health.

An article published by Medical News Today gives valuable insights into the phenomenon of selfie addiction and its potentially harmful consequences for the physical and mental health of young people. It highlights how the excessive use of filters can contribute to the existence of unrealistic beauty standards in the minds of teenagers, and the obsession with likes can lead to a feeling of unacceptance. The selfie culture can lead young people into unwanted situations, including cyber-bullying and abuse, it further says.[6]

Despite the potential hazards of selfie culture, selfies were all the rage in the pre-Corona period. Why was it so? Simply because social media platforms had hit a commercially lucrative jackpot in fueling young people’s obsession in clicking themselves in multiple poses. The “selfie” became an all-time trend on social media. Although in 2025, other trends have taken over, selfie culture still has an impressive number of takers. The hashtag selfie on Instagram has roughly 449 million posts. Many of the top posts that are thrown up include obscene and distasteful pictures of women posing.

Nothing wrong with selfie culture per se. But why does the trend depend on visuals of seminude women in provocative poses? It says a lot about the modus operandi of social media algorithms. Social media companies are always looking to scale up popular content. That’s how hashtags work. There is a proliferation of similar kinds of content related to viral hashtags, an advertiser’s dream come true. The flip side is that it’s easy to make sensational and obnoxious content go viral. Thus, social media algorithms, which are designed to make content go viral in loops for business and marketing purposes, deliberately promote sensational and disturbing content.

It’s easier for social media companies to make such content go viral than to promote quality content. Thus, making the Youth depraved and degenerate might not be their intent, but that’s what they end up doing anyway.

Erasing Hinduism? How Social Media Corrupts Hindu Youth

The inherent anti-Hindu bias of social media algorithms and lack of cultural sensitivity have detrimental effects on the psyche of Hindu Youth.

Derogatory portrayals of Hindu culture, epics, and Gods and Goddesses are rampant on social media. This contributes to a youth culture wherein young people gradually lose respect for their own traditions and culture. They are surrounded by a culture of causal Hinduphobia, which they then internalize. Social media trends contribute massively to this phenomenon.

The hashtag “monkeygod” has 13.8k posts on Instagram. For most Hindus, the word is derogatory, but it is still casually used to refer to the Hindu deity Hanuman jee. The existence of such a hashtag on social media points to the internalization of Hinduphobia by social media platforms and its harmful consequences for Hindu Youth.

Derogatory portrayals of Hindu Gods and Goddesses have become so commonplace on social media that the Hindu society seems to have internalized Hindudvesha to such an extent that it justifies such degraded portrayal as freedom of expression. A few members of the Hindu community take cognizance and file complaints, but the voices are few and far between. In September 2024, the Mangalaru police registered an FIR[7] over charges of posting derogatory photographs of Hindu Gods on a Facebook page. In yet another incident that happened in Kerala in 2020, Kerala-based photographer Dia John’s Facebook post depicting Hindu deities disrespectfully went viral. The photographer had reportedly uploaded two posts on Facebook where a female model, sporting a red saree, posed as a Hindu Goddess, where she could be seen drinking alcohol and smoking weed. Dia John faced widespread outrage from netizens over the derogatory post, while a Kerala-based Hindu temple filed a police complaint against her for hurting religious sentiments.[8]

What is the effect of such derogatory portrayals of Hindu deities and culture on Youth is anybody’s guess. Complaints are filed; creators perhaps pull down a few posts due to public outrage, but the vicious cycle continues due to a lack of social media regulations prohibiting such content. The resultant effect – not only does the Youth end up internalizing Hinduphobia, but it is also encouraged to project subversive images of its own culture and traditions in the name of modernity and freedom of expression. Thus, many times, young content creators themselves get emboldened to create viciously anti-Hindu content., further normalizing the degraded portrayal of Hinduism.

In Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Power, well-known author and researcher Rajiv Malhotra opines that big tech companies have managed to hold such a sway over the Indian audience because India hasn’t yet been able to develop a robust ecosystem to expose the next generation to ancient ideas by integrating them into the present context and injecting these ideas into various models driving digital platforms.[9]

Malhotra further emphasizes the need for India to create its national grand narrative, which should inform the country’s digital ecosystem. His suggestions are indeed crucial to devising solutions for breaking the vicious cycle of derogatory portrayals of Hindu culture and traditions on social media and educating the Hindu Youth about their own culture and heritage.

Prostitution, Trafficking, and Online Lures

A 2019 study published by a French anti-prostitution group claimed that social media platforms like Tinder and Facebook are fueling the burgeoning industry of online prostitution and sexual exploitation. The report by Foundation Scelles reportedly said that prostitution had moved “from the street to the internet,” where pimps go around the business by recruiting young girls through social media platforms like Instagram and Snapchat “before prostituting them in apartments rented on Airbnb.”[10]

The report titled “Sexual exploitation: New challenges, new answers” analyzed trends in 35 countries, as per media reports. It uncovered the modus operandi of the online prostitution network in different countries, including Israel and France. It also emphasized that it was hard to track the perpetrators because of online anonymity, and the advertisements were never direct. Rather, one always came across ambiguous and oblique advertisements for “pleasant moments” and massages”.[11] [12]

A 2018 report by The Altamont Enterprise gives a chilling account of the sex trafficking industry in New York and how social media largely fuel it. The report highlights how pimps target teenage girls from vulnerable backgrounds through various social media platforms for sex trafficking.[13]

Despite the grave nature of an issue like online prostitution and its debilitating impact on the lives of young women, it has rarely been covered by mainstream media. There are media reports of online prostitution rackets being busted in various parts of the world, including India[14], but one rarely sees a discussion on the role played by social media in fueling prostitution and the need to make these platforms accountable for whatever transpires on their pages.

In Indian society, traditional family structure and moral values passed down from generation to generation have played a significant role in shielding the Youth from perversion and moral degeneration. However, as Indian society goes through dramatic transformations on many fronts, these traditional structures are gradually breaking down, making the Youth vulnerable to abuse in the name of freedom of expression. Prostitution is increasingly being glorified in India from certain woke quarters, replicating the jargon of “My body, my choice” that’s been prevalent in Western societies. This, coupled with the glamorization of prostitution by Bollywood, has led many young girls down a path of physical and mental abuse. Social media has further exacerbated this phenomenon.

When the web series Heeramandi, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, based on the lives of courtesans in pre-partition Lahore, was released, the social media space was flooded with reels of young Indian women creating social media reels on Heeramandi soundtracks by posing as courtesans. There is something disconcerting about a movie unabashedly glamorizing prostitution[15], and the phenomenon of young Indian women looking up to Bhansali’s decked-up courtesans as their icons is equally disconcerting.

Social Media’s Role in Teen Mental Health Crises

A bizarre case involving social media unfolded in the UK in 2017 when Molly Russell, a British teenager, committed suicide. In a first-of-its-kind ruling, a British court held social media platforms responsible for the death of the British teenager. Molly Russell had reportedly interacted with more than 2,000 posts on social media related to suicide, depression, and self-harm in the 6-month period prior to her death. The teenager reportedly binge-watched such content mostly on social media platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook. The UK court observed that social media content that the British teenager binge-watched acted as a trigger leading to her suicide. [16]

The Molly Russell case is a telling tale of the dark and subversive side of social media’s dingy world, a side barely highlighted by mainstream media. Even though social media platforms have now largely regulated “suicide” as a hashtag or search term directly, related hashtags like “suicidal squad” are generously in use. Such hashtags and keywords throw up an avalanche of violent and disturbing content with the potential to fuel self-harm tendencies in young people. Cases involving young people livestreaming the act of committing suicide are becoming increasingly common on social media.

Social media companies repeatedly claim that they simply act as intermediaries and bear no responsibility for the content posted on their platforms. But in an age when these companies are turning over record profits by minting the valuable data of innocuous users, can such evasion hold ground?

Ian Russell, the father of British teenager Molly Russell, who committed suicide in 2017 as a result of binge-watching social media content glorifying self-harm, called on the UK government in January to strengthen mechanisms for online safety, warning that the delay in enforcing stringent social media regulations would end up putting children even at a greater risk. In a letter to the British Prime Minister, Ian Russell criticized the UK’s Communications Regulator’s approach to enforcing the Online Safety Act. He further accused tech companies like X and Meta of putting profits above safety and moving towards a highly unregulated online environment.[17]

Wokeism Destroying Youth

Social media trends don’t operate in a vacuum. Existing trends in media and popular culture percolate down to social media, influencing the kind of content that becomes popular on these platforms. The academia and think tank ecosystem, in turn, through its posturing on various issues, set the agenda for media and popular culture, thus indirectly influencing social media content as well.

The rising influence of wokeism has deeply influenced global media and academic discourse. Social media is also a part of this chain. Wokeism, through its unhealthy focus on cultivating a victim mindset amongst young people and exploiting their vulnerabilities, also influences the kind of content that is created and consumed on social media.

Wokeism, with its irrational celebration of individual subjectivity at the cost of common sense and societal responsibility, grooms young people into the archetypal “victim-rebel” syndrome. It’s a classic case of exploitation of young people’s vulnerabilities and insecurities to sell all kinds of objects and ideas, from something as seemingly innocuous as cosmetic products to something not so innocuous as drugs, sex, and even sex change operations. With its massive reach amongst the Youth, social media has become a convenient experiment ground for woke ideas. Companies and advertisers use all kinds of woke ideas on social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, etc., to appeal to the Youth and create a market for their products and services. In the process, they end up destroying the value system of the Youth and throwing them into a perpetual cycle of a manufactured existentialist crisis.

In Snakes in the Ganga: Breaking India 2.0, Rajiv Malhotra and Vijaya Viswanathan talk about the import of American wokeism in India through elite educational institutions like Ashoka University and seemingly benign projects like the Godrej India Culture Lab, which, according to the authors, push a disturbingly anti-Hindu woke ideology down the throats of young people. These lines from the book aptly capture the essence of the devastating consequences of social media wokesim on the youth psyche:

The woke American Youth are anxious, easily triggered, and confused about their identity, gender, and sexuality. They want constant affirmation, and social media is an echo chamber that provides emotional reinforcement. TikTok and other social media platforms for the Youth are teeming with videos about entitled Youth declaring their sexuality and their current place in the fluid gender spectrum. This is the current obsession. New categories of sexuality, gender, and personal pronouns emerge on a daily basis. The American Youth are clearly going through a psychological crisis.[18]

Wokeism is inherently anti-Hindu; it portrays Hinduism as regressive, patriarchal, and anti-women, encouraging both outsiders and insiders to view Hindu Dharma negatively and pass value judgments. Wokeism shuns deeper engagement with Hindu Dharma and philosophy. The preponderance of vicious anti-Hindu content on social media and its burgeoning popularity can be attributed to wokeism. Wokeism not only normalizes Hinduphobia, but it also rather encourages Hindu Youth to mock their own religion and culture, thus drawing them into a vicious spiral of identity crisis and cutting them off from the traditional ties of community and society.

Rajiv Malhotra and Vijaya Viswanathan’s latest book, Who is Raising Your Children, raises the issue of the import of Western education models by the Indian education system. The authors argue that globalists are gradually controlling the Indian education system as the world’s educational curriculum is pushing down certain ideas in the name of progressive education. The authors further argue that the imposition of Western education models onto the Indian education system alienates the future generation from their own local culture and value system and also negates concepts like patriotism, which are so intrinsic to a nation’s value system. The book delves into the differences between Marxism-based social sciences and Vedic social sciences, arguing that India should adopt a social sciences curriculum based on the Vedic system rather than importing Western models of social sciences. The authors also alert the reader to the danger of children being exposed to explicit sexual content and groomed into concepts of embracing gender fluidity and alternative sexualities in the name of teaching sex education and gender sensitization.[19] [20]

Social Media Regulations – The Road Ahead

In an unprecedented move, the Australian government banned social media for children under 16 years. The stringent legislation puts the onus onto tech giants owning various social media platforms to stop minors from logging in to these platforms or being ready to face fines of up to 32 million USD.[21]

Social media companies were quick to criticize the law, alleging that it stifled free speech.[22] Many experts have also reportedly opposed the ban, arguing that increasing education and media literacy perhaps offer better solutions to the crisis than imposing an outright ban.[23]

Talk of self-regulation and social media awareness sounds good and benign in theory, but does this approach work in practice when one is dealing with profit-making enterprises, who in all probability, see children as a lucrative audience segment for fostering the growth of their platforms, with little regard for their safety and well-being?

Outright bans might or might not work 100 percent, but they are perhaps still a remarkable improvement over the “no-ban” scenario. Various countries, such as France and some states of the US, have also reportedly passed legislation to restrict social media access for minors without parental consent.[24] UK’s new Online Safety Act puts the onus on social media firms to protect children from content such as pornography, self-harm, and violent content. The failure to do so will attract huge fines, per the new law.[25] The Australian ban also ignited a debate in India, with experts arguing that social media in India should be outright banned for kids. According to the draft rules of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act of 2023[26], children below 18 years of age will require parental consent to set up social media accounts. The rules are still in the draft stage, and the Indian government recently completed the process of seeking public suggestions and objections to the draft. The government will then consider the feedback to determine the future course of action.

To protect the Youth from the harmful effects of social media, overall social media regulation to prohibit the display of obscene, pornographic, or violent content is the need of the hour. Regulating social media for kids is a good beginning, but it doesn’t quite solve the problem of social media destroying the psyche of young people. A multi-pronged strategy to make social media companies liable for the content shared on their platforms is the need of the hour. Perhaps they should no longer be able to get away by saying they act as intermediaries. Maybe it’s high time they were classified as regular media companies so that they would be equally liable to the laws of the land.

Expecting social media companies to self-censor their platforms and voluntarily crack down on pornographic and abusive content is foolhardy at best. Such content drives many social media trends, thus raking in big profits for these companies. They might enforce some arbitrary criteria half-heartedly to discourage certain hashtags or put some checks in place. However, content creators easily work around these rules, and the vicious cycle continues.

Wrapping up

As the Ranveer Allahbadia episode demonstrates, social media destroys the value system of Youth, making them immune to any kind of moral appeal. Allahbadia is a popular social media influencer who derived a lot of that popularity by conducting interviews with spiritual leaders and other entities from within the Dharmic ecosystem. Many in his fan base felt cheated and shattered when they saw the footage in which he could be seen laughing casually while making those subversive comments about his parents.

In other words, the social media influencer’s mask fell off as people got to witness his Adharmik side. Even India’s apex court reprimanded Allahbadia in fairly strong language for his display of perversion on a television show.

It is also an allegory for social media’s double-faced nature. Through an unhinged celebration of the sensational and the viral, it makes young people dissociate “content” from all obligations of moral and ethical values and cultural beliefs.

Citations

[1] Ranveer Allahbadia shocks Samay Raina on India’s Got Latent with ‘inappropriate’ jokes, draws massive backlash | Today News; https://www.livemint.com/news/trends/ranveer-allahbadia-shocks-samay-raina-on-india-s-got-latent-with-inappropriate-jokes-draws-massive-backlash-11739171476365.html

[2] Ranveer Allahbadia Row: Mumbai police reaches YouTuber’s residence over remarks at ‘India’s Got Latent’ | Top updates | Latest News India – Hindustan Times; https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/ranveer-allahbadia-row-mumbai-police-reaches-youtubers-residence-over-remarks-on-india-s-got-latent-top-updates-101739255016083.html

[3] Supreme Court slams Ranveer Allahbadia: ‘Something very dirty in his mind’ | Latest News India – Hindustan Times; https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/supreme-court-slams-ranveer-allahbadia-something-very-dirty-in-his-mind-101739858269274.html

[4] Teens, Social Media and Technology 2024 | Pew Research Center; https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2024/12/12/teens-social-media-and-technology-2024/

[5] Ibid.

[6] Teen health and selfies: The impact and forming healthy habits; https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/teen-health-and-selfies#selfies-and-social-media

[7] FIR registered in Mangaluru over derogatory pictures of Hindu deities on Facebook; https://www.deccanherald.com/india/karnataka/fir-registered-in-mangaluru-over-derogatory-pictures-of-hindu-deities-on-facebook-3186453

[8] Kerala photographer Dia John posts derogatory images of Hindu deities; https://www.opindia.com/2020/10/kerala-photographer-dia-john-posts-derogatory-images-of-hindu-deities/

[9] Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Power by Rajiv Malhotra, p. 354

[10] Apps, Social Media Fuel ‘Booming’ Online Prostitution [Study]; https://theglobepost.com/2019/06/04/social-media-fuels-prostitution/

[11] Ibid.

[12] Apps, social media fuel ‘booming’ online prostitution: study; https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/apps-social-media-fuel-booming-online-prostitution-study-119060401191_1.html

[13] Sex trafficking is here, largely fueled by social media | The Altamont Enterprise; https://altamontenterprise.com/02272018/sex-trafficking-here-largely-fueled-social-media

[14] Online prostitution racket busted in Gurugram – Hindustan Times; https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/gurugram-news/online-prostitution-racket-busted-in-gurugram-101663179047105.html

[15] Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Heeramandi and Bollywood’s obsession with the glorification of prostitution; https://hindupost.in/media/sanjay-leela-bhansalis-heeramandi-and-bollywoods-obsession-with-the-glorification-of-prostitution/#

[16] UK considering banning social media for under 16-year-olds, should Bharat follow suit?; https://hindupost.in/media/uk-considering-banning-social-media-for-under-16-year-olds-should-bharat-follow-suit/

[17] Father of Molly Russell urges UK to strengthen online safety laws | Digital Watch Observatory; https://dig.watch/updates/father-of-molly-russell-urges-uk-to-strengthen-online-safety-laws

[18] Snakes in the Ganga by Rajiv Malhotra and Vijaya Viswanathan, p. 574

[19] (74) Who Is Raising Your Children? Our New Book | ‘A MASTERFUL EXPOSE!’ – YouTube; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVcTlVvsiOg

[20] (74) Hidden dangers of Western education models | Vijaya Viswanathan | Who Is Raising Your Children? – YouTube; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO1f_NMqxco

[21] Australia passes social media ban for children under 16 | Reuters; https://www.reuters.com/technology/australia-passes-social-media-ban-children-under-16-2024-11-28/

[22] How will Australia’s under-16-year social media ban work? We asked the law’s enforcer: NPR; https://www.npr.org/2024/12/19/nx-s1-5231020/australia-top-regulator-kids-social-media-ban#:~:text=The%20law%20came%20over%20the,regulated%20corners%20of%20the%20internet.

[23] Will the Australian social media ban work | Media@LSE; https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/medialse/2025/02/18/will-the-australian-social-media-ban-for-under-16s-work/

[24] Australia passes social media ban for children under 16 | Reuters; https://www.reuters.com/technology/australia-passes-social-media-ban-children-under-16-2024-11-28/

[25] Online Safety Bill: Social media faces big changes under new Ofcom rules; https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj0467e9e43o

[26] Parental consent must for children to open social media account: Centre in draft rules for Data Protection – India Today; https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/centre-in-draft-rules-for-data-protection-parental-consent-must-for-children-to-open-social-media-account-2659474-2025-01-03