Detrans activist Oli London points to TikTok and its proliferation of content affirming gender transitions as the main reason why he started to question his own gender identity.
Oli London points out that the number of individuals, specifically young people, identifying as transgender has skyrocketed since the start of the pandemic, coinciding with the rise in social media and the advent of TikTok in 2018.
Former trans influencer and detransition activist Oli London blames TikTok and its transgender stars for the rise in gender ideology and confusion among adolescents.
London, who identified as a woman for six months and later detransitioned, blames TikTok and its proliferation of content affirming gender transitions as the main reason why he started to question his own gender identity.
"I was spending eight hours a day on TikTok," he told Fox News Digital. "I was really, really addicted. Now, I barely use it, and I'm so much happier."
London has been open about his identity struggle, so when he saw videos about people's new personas and pronouns garnering attention, he started to wonder if that was the solution to his problems.
"You think, 'Oh, wow, look at them, they're popular, they're getting love, they're getting validation' and I thought, ‘Maybe I can feel validated,'" he said.
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Many transgender influencers have gained notoriety for a variety of reasons like encouraging minors to alienate themselves from their parents if they don't affirm their chosen gender or for sending prescription drugs across the country to states where puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones aren't legally prescribed to minors. London said TikTok's AI algorithm is responsible for promoting this type of content.
"They [TikTok] check what you're interested in, and they push and feed you videos related to your interests," he explained. "If you're a kid that maybe stumbles across a video that's about gender ideology, and you watch the whole video for 15 seconds, TikTok will remember that and just keep showing you the same kind of content."
Courtesy of Oli London (Courtesy of Oli London)
"That was what happened with me," he added. "I saw a lot of gender identity videos … [and] I was like, ‘You know what, maybe I can change my identity, maybe I can transition’ and that was really when I transitioned, during the height of my TikTok addiction."
He said the love and attention he received from documenting his transition with his followers left him constantly seeking greater validation through more likes and views.
"I was sharing all of my changes and the amount of positivity I got was insane," he said. "I was getting millions and millions of views, hundreds of thousands of likes per video and before that, I was just getting abuse, before that I was getting hate."
"I kind of fell for that … ‘Maybe this is the only way I feel love, I feel valid is by getting this attention,’" he continued. "I kind of went along with that and thought, ‘Maybe these people are right’ and that's what really pushed me to transition."
London said this feeling of acceptance made him want to take his transition to the extreme, so he ultimately opted for surgery.
"They're telling me I am doing the right thing, so it must be right," he recalled. "I started wanting to change myself more. I got hair extensions, I changed my entire face, I started dressing in women's clothes."
"Every time it was just nothing but praise from all these people that have pronouns in their bios … saying, 'This is amazing, you're incredible. We finally support you.' When previously, months earlier, they were attacking me and sending me hate," London added.
He said his experience isn't unique, explaining that when you see someone share their transition journey, their notoriety on TikTok skyrockets.
"For instance, it might be a boy, they might start doing a little bit of lipstick, their views will go up," London explained. "They might do hair extensions or wigs, suddenly views go up more. They put on the dress more and more and more."
The #topsurgery hashtag on TikTok has over 2.1 billion views with women and girls showing off their experiences getting double mastectomies, often showing their scars and sharing their transition process. London said the TikTok algorithm promotes this content heavily, which he is concerned about because the app is so popular among children, teens and young adults.
Courtesy of Oli London (Courtesy of Oli London)
"This goes unchecked. In fact, it's actually amplified," he said. "These videos often get hundreds of thousands, if not millions [of views], so it's really become a problem. TikTok seriously needs to address this."
"But this is not just any trend, it's not a trend where you become goth for the day, or you start a dance trend," he added. "This is a trend that destroys lives, it destroys families, it destroys the lives of children. It teaches children that the only way to feel happy and to accept themselves is to mutilate their bodies through surgery and through taking very harmful hormones."
London pointed to influencers like Dylan Mulvaney, who was previously an actor, but went viral for her "365 Days of Girlhood" series detailing her daily experiences in her first year identifying as a transgender woman.
Mulvaney has partnered with a number of prominent brands and was rumored to have a relationship with Tampax, posting to TikTok in 2022 about a proposed partnership.
"When Tampax offers to sponsor you but you don’t have a [cat emoji]," Mulvaney shared at the time.
On Saturday, Mulvaney revealed she was a brand influencing partner with Bud Light, and the beer company sent her packs of Bud Light featuring her face as a way to celebrate a full year of "girlhood."
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London said people like Mulvaney get rewarded for "bad behavior" which he sees as "offensive" to women who have been females their whole lives. He also said it is a problem when young TikTok users, who are 13 and 14 years old, idolize these transgender influencers and could think "One day I want to be just like Dylan. He's successful, he's famous, he's hanging out with all the biggest Hollywood stars."
"Every kid wants to feel accepted and loved," he added. "This is the hottest trend right now, kids are going to want to do that. It's incredibly dangerous and harmful."
Courtesy of Oli London (Courtesy of Oli London)
Other influencers like trans activist Eli Erlick told Instagram followers in a since-deleted post that she was coordinating efforts to send prescription drugs, including hormones and puberty blockers, to states where it is illegal to prescribe gender transitions treatment for minors.
"If you need hormones, I'm working with a distribution network to get you access," Erlick posted. "Everything is free, no questions asked."
"I realize this is only a band-aid solution: we need full access to affirmative medical care from professionals immediately," she added. "However, missing a single dose of hormones can be devastating (especially for trans teens and those new to hormones)!"
Erlick told Fox News Digital that "Every major medication organization in the country agrees that transgender people, including youth, need access to gender-affirming healthcare."
"We should have access to physicians that are willing to provide care through approved means without the government banning these life-saving medications," Erlick said. "However, we will always find a way to obtain transgender medical treatment when we do not have formal access to it – no matter how many bans are put in place."
Erlick said, "Nobody wants the government to force them to share medication."
"I wish I had puberty blockers to freely distribute to those in need," Erlick added. "However, puberty blockers are not like hormone therapy. They are typically administered by a medical provider every 1-24 months as a shot or implant. They are unobtainable for those who have not been prescribed them. This goes to show how little Oli knows about the trans community or how our healthcare works. He's trying to sell his memoir through ridiculous anti-trans propaganda and everyone knows it."
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"Instead of this person being charged with criminal misconduct, this person is being praised as an LGBT hero," London said.
Many parents have been alarmed by the social media activity of 46-year-old nonbinary activist Jeffrey Marsh, whose videos speak directly to children, telling them to cut off contact with their parents if they don't affirm their gender identity.
In multiple videos, he coaches people on the best way to go "no-contact" and tells his followers they are making "the right decision," boasting that he doesn't communicate with any member of his family.
"TikTok really is causing irreparable harm to a generation of young people that are now going to have hormones, they're going to change their gender, they're having these irreversible surgeries that cause so many health complications, all because of a harmful trend," London said. "We need to combat this. We need to stop rewarding bad behavior."
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London has a new book titled, "Gender Madness: One Man's Devastating Struggle with Woke Ideology and His Battle to Protect Children," coming out in August that will detail his experience with TikTok, the influence it had on his transition and his concerns about its power.
This article has been updated to include Eli Erlick's statements.
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