Candace Owens claims TikTok causes women to hate men while also making men gay

Candace Owens, a far-right media commentator and staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump, has once again sparked controversy. In a recent episode of her podcast Candace, Owens claimed that TikTok, the popular social media platform, is “socially engineering” men to be gay and women to turn against men.

Owens described TikTok as part of a broader conspiracy involving the media, Hollywood, and psychoanalysts to manipulate American society into engaging in behaviors she considers “unnatural.” She argued that the platform is encouraging men to become more effeminate and promoting a narrative where women no longer want to have children or form traditional family structures.

“They’re not socially engineering us to do good things,” Owens said on her podcast. “They are making men more and more effeminate, encouraging effeminate behavior, and convincing women to hate men. This is just what I see happening, and it’s terrifying.”

Earlier this year, following a school shooting in Iowa, Owens falsely suggested that LGBTQ+ people, especially transgender and nonbinary individuals, were linked to an increase in violent incidents. She claimed that gender-affirming health care was contributing to a rise in mass shootings, despite there being no evidence to support such a connection.

In another instance, Owens propagated a baseless conspiracy theory about Brigitte Macron, the first lady of France, claiming she is secretly transgender. She referred to a discredited French magazine article and alleged that Macron’s supposed gender transition was part of a scandal involving political blackmail. These claims were immediately dismissed by French authorities and widely condemned as transphobic.

Owens has also been known for making inflammatory remarks about the LGBTQ+ community, describing it as a “sexual plague on our society” and associating the community with “insanity.”

This pattern of behavior has led to repeated suspensions from platforms like YouTube for violating hate speech policies. However, Owens continues to find a platform on social media, especially on X (formerly Twitter), where owner Elon Musk has been accused of allowing a freer spread of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.

Owens has doubled down on her rhetoric, urging her followers not to “hate” her but to “hate what’s actually happening.”