Pornographic algorithms

Algorithmically mediated pornification and South Korean women’s everyday resistance on social media

Bibliographic Data

ID12656014
AuthorsJin Lee (0000-0002-5698-5561, Curtin University), Jeehyun Jenny Lee (0000-0001-9980-2836, Curtin University)
Year2026
Publication date2026-03-24
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNew Media & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1461-4448 • E-ISSN: 1461-7315
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/14614448261425170
OpenAlexW7140234572
LanguageEN
References cited45

In this article, we examine Korean social media users’ anecdotes regarding social media algorithms, contextualized within the intricate dynamics of South Korea’s rape culture and the intensifying male pornographic fantasies for women’s flesh. Drawing on digital ethnography, we conceptualize their understandings of algorithms as pornographic algorithms—a set of imaginaries about how social media algorithms mediate the visibility of pornographic content in distinct ways and users’ social media engagement accordingly. Through case studies of the four most popular social media platforms—Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube—we explore how these pornographic algorithms are perceived as the main key actors in pornification in concert with the country’s existing rape culture, and how users develop tactics to navigate porn-friendly social media. We argue that social media use for Korean women is an ongoing everyday fight against a new form of sexism that is now convolutedly processed, normalized, and facilitated by algorithmic governance in the digital realm

Digital media · Everyday life · Key (lock · Resistance (ecology · Set (abstract data type · Social media · Visibility · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology

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