Photo by Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times
If you’ve spent even five minutes in a high school hallway this year you’ve probably witnessed something strange. While it’s no new occurrence to see some form of extremism with your average teenage boy like we saw with Andrew Tate, a new figure has emerged in 2025: Nick Fuentes. All throughout highs chools and Instagram group-chats alike, Nick Fuentes has become an incredibly popular figure online.
If you’re unfamiliar, Fuentes is a man who openly uses the n-word, embraces white christian nationalism and pushes antisemitic conspiracy theories. Somehow a person like this is becoming the newest obsession for a lot of young men. His podcast being removed from spotify should tell you all you need to know. What’s troubling is that he was trending #1 when he was removed.
Honestly, I’m not super surprised. Like I said we’ve witnessed waves of figures like Andrew Tate and Charlie Kirk. But none as extreme as Fuentes. We’re living through what can only be described as the Nick Fuentes Epidemic, a moment where teen boys are being pulled into extremist politics through the simplest hook possible: humor. What sets Fuentes apart from other online figures is his youth. Being a part of gen z he very easily masks his extremist ideology with relevant humor.
I’ve witnessed this ingenious formula up close and personal as a high school junior myself. Most must be wondering: How could moderate or conservative people be so easily pulled into fandom for an extremist? First someone will witness a funny clip of Nick Fuentes making a harmless, non-political joke. Next, they might view something political that they might agree with that’s bold and rebellious. The viewer now only knows Fuentes as someone funny who they might lightly agree or disagree with. Suddenly he’s dropping racial slurs and pushing far right white supremacist ideology but they don’t seem to care.
Because the algorithm introduced him as a comedian, not an extremist, viewers file everything under “it’s just jokes.” This isn’t unintentional though. It’s a textbook radicalization funnel that pulls people in. Pew Research reports that teen boys are significantly more likely than girls to consume manosphere, redpill, and right wing influencer content which is leading to a variety of social problems like a decrease of dating in Gen Z, for example.
The Nick Fuentes Epidemic isn’t just about one influencer, although Fuentes is uniquely popular. It leads into a bigger problem that is reshaping the political identity of young men and that is algorithm curation.
Platforms profit from engagement, they push content that evokes major emotions like humor, anger, and outrage. It just so happens that political extremism checks all three boxes.
When a teenage boy likes or interacts with a single “funny political clip” TikTok Youtube or Instagram reads that as expressed interest. Suddenly his feed is flooded with dark humor, conspiracy theories, and sometimes outright racist and homophobic content.
The Anti-Defamation League has warned that this blend of comedy and extremism is one of the most effective modern recruitment tools for hate groups. Combine that with TikTok’s recommendation system, and you get a generation of boys who believe they arrived at these views independently when really, it was all fed to them.
As a teen boy myself I can understand that the reason this is so effective is because of our value systems. We value humor above almost anything, it’s hard to call out serious topics to risk looking “sensitive” or “killing the vibe.” It makes sense why those who have fallen down the rabbit hole find it so easy to justify, because their value system has been hijacked.
I’m not arguing that teens should avoid political content entirely. I’m not saying humor is bad. I’m saying that our generation is being shaped by content designed to manipulate us. The sole reason I felt inspired to write this article was because of strange algorithm shifts that I began to notice myself becoming comfortable with.
People my age need to be aware of what they’re finding funny and if they would be comfortable showing those “funny” videos to their parents. Platforms need to take responsibility for the pipelines they’ve built because right now a generation of young people will continue to become increasingly comfortable with a diet of hate, outrage, and extremism disguised as humor.
The next generation of voters, leaders and citizens will be shaped not by the values they form for themselves but what the algorithms choose for them.
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