Exposure
A boy watches fitness or bodybuilding content. Algorithms surface increasingly extreme physiques presented as natural. Steroid-enhanced bodies become the standard he measures himself against.
Normalisation
Influencers frame steroid use as a rational choice for self-improvement. "Everyone's on it." The risks are downplayed or dismissed entirely. Use is positioned as essential, not optional.
Discovery
Suppliers are found in comment sections, through influencer promotions, or by typing "buy test" or "buy tren" into the search bar of any major social media platform. The route from exposure to supplier takes minutes.
Community
Users are pushed to Discord or Telegram channels where suppliers post graphically designed menus of 30+ compounds, HGH, insulin, SARMs, and experimental peptides. Cycle advice comes from unqualified strangers.
Purchase
Payment through cryptocurrency, PayPal, or bank transfer to a fake business name. Products delivered through postal and courier services. No quality control. No guarantee of purity or dosage. Manufactured in unclean environments by unlicensed individuals.
Use without oversight
No medical supervision. No blood work. No understanding of what they are injecting. When health problems emerge, the NHS has almost nothing to offer. Most GPs lack fundamental knowledge and have no clinical guidelines to follow.
No barriers
There is no age verification. No quality control. No medical gatekeeping. A 14-year-old can go from watching a gym video to injecting an unregulated substance sourced from an underground lab within a week.
The platform responsibility gap
Ofcom has produced guidance for tech companies on tackling online harms affecting women and girls. No equivalent guidance exists for men and boys. The promotion of unregulated injectable drugs by influencers with millions of followers is one of the most tangible online harms facing males in the UK today.