India, June 22 -- A growing network of online communities known collectively as the "manosphere" is emerging as a serious threat to gender equality, as toxic digital spaces increasingly influence real-world attitudes, behaviours, and policies, the UN agency dedicated to ending gender discrimination has warned.

With more than 5.5 billion people connected online - nearly all of them active on social media - digital platforms have become central to how people interact, UN Women highlights.

However, they are also being weaponised to spread misogyny and hate. Once confined to fringe internet forums, the manosphere now reaches into schoolyards, workplaces, and is sometimes upending intimate personal relationships.

"We are seeing an increasin...